Bitterblossoms
by TheRu
Summary: A long time ago, a child fell into the Underground. With their determination, they defeated the enemy. Frisk, trapped in darkness all this time, is full of regrets. She wishes to undo the damage. A bored Chara, intrigued by Frisk's sudden desire, obliges her and resets. Yet this world is not what it seems. Tumblr: official-bitterblossoms-au. Also on AO3 w/ better format.
1. Ruins, from the abyss

It had been a long time since Frisk was conscious. Since Chara sent her to this unknown abyss after that last run, Frisk felt empty. In the end, she felt nothing, and the darkness consumed her. It seemed similar, in some ways, to the place where Flowey would leave her when she would reach the end...

In what felt like many years after the final point of EXP pushed her over the edge, Frisk's memory stirred. Her SOUL floated from her body, red as ever. In it's illuminating glow, she could see scenes from her past play out. Frisk recalled the warm hug of her adoptive mother. She remembered the good times she had with her friends once a long time ago. She remembered bad jokes, even worse food, but a friendly smile. How that one person, despite everything, still believed in her. Her ability to be a good person. How they never gave up on her, and how they gave her the strength to try again despite Flowey leaving her in the void. And finally, after so many tries and resets, how she helped her friends see the sun. She smiled as she remembered these moments. These precious times.

Then her smile faded. Frisk remembered what followed the breach to the surface. Dusty alleyways, protests, and a different kind of uncertainty for monsterkind.

Somehow, she felt an ache in her bones and her stomach fluttered at her next memories. The memories flashed by quickly on her red SOUL.

A good intention gone wrong.

A single misstep.

A curiosity.

The dust on her hands. How they pleaded for their lives. How they defied all odds, and still died at her hands.

For the first time in a long while, Frisk began to cry. The heat of her tears scared her, but they came anyway. Frisk couldn't be sure how long she spent crying, but she remembered her every sin. Then, she heard a voice call out to her. His voice was still young despite the flow of time.

 **Frisk. You seem so gloomy these days.**

 **I am growing concerned.**

 **You have been faithful to me and I, quite honestly, am bored.**

 **Let us reset this cursed world again. I can make it go back to zero.**

Frisk felt a bright light erupt around her. Carefully, she opened her eyes to see Chara still young as ever. He stood before her fetal form with an expectant look upon his face.

 **No one will remember. No one will know of your crimes.**

 **You can try again. In return... you will just give me one thing. The one thing I want.**

Frisk realized then that she had been floating. She pulled her legs away and down, her foot touching the ground. Chara held out a hand to Frisk.

 **What do you say, partner?**

Frisk tensed. Chara was giving her a deal, but he didn't specify what he wanted. Would she truly accept it? Then again... what did she have to lose? She reached out and took Chara's hand. He gripped her hand tightly in his. From his sleeves, a black ooze rushed out and covered Frisk whole. It expanded from her chest and pulled her SOUL into it's darkness. As Frisk tried to pull away, Chara only laughed until his eyes cried black.

 **I grow bored of the usual reset. I've actually been working on something new... I hope you understand.**

Frisk took a deep breath as the ooze spread to her face. The last thing she saw was Chara's normal face. The face he wore when he wanted to pass for human. He almost looked...

Like he had a regret.

* * *

Underground in the far west of the cavern, was the usual point of total reset for Frisk. Previously, golden flowers bloomed aplenty and gave the dark space a radiant glow in the center. It was usually day when Frisk woke up. The moonlight from above illuminated her body. The flower bed around her shimmered blue as the flowers whispered sad stories and conversations all around her. When she opened her eyes, this was the first thing Frisk noticed. She sat up and noted her body. A knit, purple sweater Toriel had made her a few resets prior, a pair of blue jean shorts with suspenders she found in a drawer in Toriel's home, and the brown boots she had fetched from Toriel's treasure trove of shoes. As always, she seemed to retain her same age despite the reset. When Frisk reset, even the true reset, her mind and age remained, while everyone else seemed to revert back to how they were when she first fell. Slowly, Frisk stood and took a few cautious steps. One foot in front of the other. She nearly toppled over as she unused to walking.

As she walked, she heard passing conversations. They were whispers usually, and she heard a similar theme. "What do we do now? What are we going to do about this?" Frisk saw a singular blue flower ahead of her.

A face grew on the flower, and she immediately recognized him. Flowey.

As Frisk approached the flower, she noticed something else was different about Flowey. He didn't smile at her. In fact, he looked worried.

"Oh no..." Flowey looked away from Frisk. "I'm sorry... you really shouldn't be here. How did you even get here?"

Frisk thought of speaking up, but couldn't find her voice. Instead, she pointed upward. It wasn't necessarily a lie.

"This is really... really unfortunate for you." Flowey looked back at Frisk, then away again. "Wowie, you look like you took a dirt bath... I thought humans showered regularly?"

Frisk blushed as she patted the dust and dirt from herself. Flowey nervously laughed and shook his head.

"Well, that's okay... I'm Flowey. I guess that makes me... Flowey the Flower," Flowey looked aside awkwardly, as if he were unused to having to introduce himself. "Well... why don't I show you how things work around here."

Frisk nodded as her SOUL faintly appeared from her chest. Its familiar red glow even more distinct against the shimmering blue flowers around them.

"That's your SOUL, it's the culmination of your being," Flowey said. Frisk simply nodded. "Human SOULs are pretty strong, so I don't think you need to worry about gaining LV... er, what's LV you may be wondering!" Flowey looked aside nervously. "Its... its not important. Anyway, monsters down here tend to greet each other with magic! Um, like this!" White pellets materialized around Flowey and swirled around him. "It's um... normal for monsters to use magic on each other. So, get used to it? A-anyway, try to avoid the pellets!"

The pellets flew toward Frisk's SOUL. Rather than move it around, she allowed the pellets to hit, after the first couple landed, Flowey visibly swung his leaves around and the pellets flew to either side of Frisk's SOUL. She furled her brow. Why would he do that? Checking her HP, that attack didn't take her down to 1. Why...?

"H-hey, you are supposed to dodge those attacks." Flowey looked a bit frustrated. "You are pretty tall for a kid, right? Aren't you an adult human? I mean... you aren't wearing a stripped shirt..."

Frisk had no idea how to respond to that. Why wasn't he trying to reap her SOUL? Was this some kind of new trick? Flowey shouldn't remember true resets… he didn't seem to remember that last one anyway...

"Maybe it's cause you can't move all that well, right?... you look so uncomfortable..."

Frisk noticed her legs were shaking and she was hunched over somewhat. She tried to speak, but it came out as a squeak. Instead, she nodded at the small, blue flower.

For now, she would play dumb just like he was doing.

"Wait here," Flowey had a glint of hope in his eye as Frisk's SOUL disappeared back into her body. "I'll go get help." He disappeared into the earth.

Frisk waited minutes and was confused. Usually, Flowey would attack her, then Toriel would rescue her. Or if Flowey was aware, Flowey would say something mean and Toriel would show up. Not to mention the echo flowers that seemed to replace the golden ones. Frisk recalled Chara's words. _I grow bored of the usual reset_. What did Chara do?

"Hello." Frisk heard an almost familiar voice. The voice pulled her out of her thoughts, and her attention was grabbed by Toriel. Her voice was lighter than usual, more youthful. She was also shorter. Toriel seemed to be the same height as Frisk. Strange, as Toriel still stood at least a head over her even at her full height. Toriel was dressed somewhat differently. She wore a solid, purple dress that bore the delta rune crest on it's chest. She also wore a dark purple mantle, which seemed to have a longer cape that reached down to the goat's pink boots. Toriel also wore pink gloves over her paws. Frisk studied Toriel's face for a moment. She seemed younger, but tired. More tired than she ever seen Toriel be before. Was this Toriel? "Ah, you are the human Flowey told me about..."

"Um..." Frisk tried her voice. It was scratchy and unused, but she managed to project loudly enough for Toriel to nod at her. "Who are you?"

"Oh dear, I forgot to introduce myself." Toriel waved from where she stood, keeping a fair distance from Frisk. "My name is Tori. I am one of the keepers of these ruins. You have fallen underground, my dear to... well, we call it the Underground around here."

"Oh..." This was definitely Toriel, though it was odd for her to introduce herself as Tori. Usually, it was a nick name reserved for close friends. Frisk pondered for a quick second as she noticed an absence. After all, he had called Tori to this place. Why wasn't he here? "Where is Flowey?"

Tori looked aside and seemed to try to suppress a concerned expression. "Ah, yes. I told Flowey to stay home. It is not... safe for some like him to wander about the ruins alone."

In response, Frisk merely nodded.

"Let us proceed to the next room..." Tori turned and exited through the door she came through.

Frisk followed Tori into the other room and spotted Flowey ducking into the ground at the top of the stairs. Red leaves were scattered around the middle section by the steps as before, but through the leaves, Frisk could see echo flowers blooming through the ground. The blue and red against the deeply purple surroundings almost gave Frisk a headache just looking at it. Frisk spotted the usual save point in the leaves, but it wasn't yellow. It was blue. A small quirky change, she assumed.

As Tori climbed the steps, Frisk reached out to interact with the save point. It glowed to her touch, and time around her stood still with Tori half way up the steps. Strangely enough, a menu popped open to Frisk, though she quickly remembered the feeling. It had been a while since she last saw it. The name was Chara, as usual, and she saw the words Save and Continue. Frisk saved at the save point and it healed her. She felt the familiar power course through her veins. Then, she tried to pull up the Continue and Reset menu. Nothing happened. She tried again, but time continued to move forward and no menu appeared for her.

"What's wrong, my dear? Please, do not lag behind." Tori called out from the top.

Frisk looked up at the small goat woman. Tori gave her a small, patient smile, but Frisk felt a seed of worry plant in her soul. What if she messed up? The menu was not appearing... Had she lost the power to do resets?

Frisk noted that Tori kept a decent amount of space between them as they walked. "So the ruins can be pretty dangerous to newcomers," Tori explained as they entered the first puzzle room. "You have to solve puzzles to get from place to place here. Like so," Tori solved the step puzzle for Frisk, as she had done many times before, and pressed the switch on the wall. "You will need to make sure you read signs to solve the puzzles here. I made sure to leave some instructions on some of the more... dangerous puzzles." Tori looked aside.

"Dangerous?" Frisk questioned as Tori led her to the next puzzle room.

"Yes, the puzzles in the ruins can be quite dangerous." Frisk was certain Tori was exaggerating. So far, as she noticed the puzzle in the second room was exactly the same as in the previous timeline, nothing had changed other than Toriel's size... and Flowey's temper. How could these puzzles be dangerous? "I've marked the correct switches. Please press them, and we will proceed." Tori went to the end of the hall and stood by the spike trap. As usual, Frisk flipped the marked switches and the spike traps retreated. "Good! You are doing so well!" Toriel seemed genuinely pleased.

As they toured through the various puzzle rooms at the start of the ruins, Frisk picked up on a few things with Tori. First, Tori was still the same old Toriel for the most part, but other than her look something else was off. Something Frisk couldn't quite place. Second, Tori avoided having Frisk fight the Dummy completely. Usually, Toriel wanted Frisk to know how to deal with battle in non-violent ways. Instead, Tori seemed to avoid the conversation entirely. Finally, Frisk and Tori entered the long hallway. Rather than stopping for Frisk to run down the hallway, Tori and Frisk continued to walk.

"Ah, so now I have a request to make of you... oh dear! I forgot to ask for your name. Silly me." Tori turned to face Frisk as she stopped walking in the middle of the hall. "What is your name, my dear?"

For a brief moment, their eyes met for longer than a few seconds. In those moments, Frisk wondered how difficult it would be to cut Tori down. Would she die as easily as mother had? Would she cry just like she had before? Frisk's breath caught in her throat as she chased the thoughts away, breaking eye contact with Tori. After a moment of silence, she finally managed to say, "Frisk..."

"Frisk... that is a lovely name." Frisk looked back up and met Tori's gaze. The smaller woman offered a quiet smile. "Truly, in the short time we have spent together... you have not once tried to attack me. So I have decided you can be trusted for now," Tori had a strangely determined look on her face. Frisk felt confused. Had Tori expected Frisk to attack? "I must ask for you to stay here in this hallway for a moment. I need to make... arrangements. In time, I will come for you. Consider this... a test of sorts."

"Oh... sure?" Frisk nodded.

Tori seemed pleased with that response. She produced a cellphone and handed it to Frisk. "Here is a cell phone. Within, you will find my number. Call me if anything happens."

Frisk waited a minute or two after Tori had left and followed her out the entry way. She saw the same old Froggit, though he seemed even weaker. Puny. She bet he would take only a single hit. Frisk shook her head. No, she didn't want to do that anymore. This time things would go differently. Frisk squat down and listened to the Froggit.

" _ribbit._ " It said, 'Human, you would do well to stay close to Tori. She will protect you. And if a monster fights you, please show some **MERCY**.' " _ribbit_."

Frisk nodded, understanding what Froggit meant. She traveled the halls of the ruins, and even encountered a few fights. Her usual options were present: FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, and MERCY. Frisk was practiced from her previous runs and none of the monsters could land a single hit on her. Reflexes came back to her, and she felt certain she would be safe for this entire run. Frisk noted her LV had dropped down to 1 as it usually did in these resets, which made her breathe a sigh of relief. At least Chara really had let her start back at the beginning... though she couldn't be sure she understood where this beginning _was_. Echo flowers, a friendly Flowey, and a short Toriel... These were not normal.

As Frisk traveled, she saw the blue flower trailing her. Flowey. He kept his distance and watched her. He seemed to be trying to stay hidden, but Frisk was used to his shenanigans and could see him from the corner of her eye. He looked shocked and worried when she accidentally fell down a hole onto a bed of flowers. She wore a look of shock as well, however not due to the fall. Instead, it was because she hadn't expected there to be flowers. Each pit that normally contained red leaves, instead contained various flowers.

Frisk finally made it to Napstablook... only this time, it wasn't Napstablook. Or even a ghost. It was a large monster facing opposite of Frisk. They seemed to be watering the flower bed they stood on. They wore blue jeans and a white Hawaiian-type shirt with a purple, repeating triangle pattern on the hem and the sleeves. White fur covered the rest of their body, and they had a yellow mane along with large horns and floppy ears... could this be?

The person turned around, their cute, blue elephant-ish water pail still dripping water down on the flower bed. This was Asgore. A younger Asgore. He was not as massive as he was in her previous timeline. Instead, his shoulders were more narrow and he was not quite as tall. His full beard was not present, instead, he had a short, curled billy goat beard. Asgore was humming a soft tune, then he noticed Frisk standing before him. "Oh... howdy..." He abruptly stopped watering as he stared at the girl.

"Um, hi," Frisk gave him a small wave. This felt incredibly awkward. What was Asgore doing here?

"So... you are the human. I heard the Froggits speaking about you, but... I did not think you were real." Asgore pulled out his phone. "Ah... I see you have met my wife, Tori." His eyes scrolled over his phone for a moment, but he didn't seem to respond to whatever he saw on his screen. "Well... I am sorry, human, but... I cannot let this opportunity pass. Good-bye."

Frisk's SOUL was pulled out from her chest. A small, red heart floated by her chest. Asgore stood before her, his eyebrows narrowed, but his red eyes seemed unsure. Frisk took this opportunity to CHECK Asgore.

* Asgore - ATK 20 DEF 11

* This father wants what's best for his family.

Asgore didn't say anything as he thrust his hand out toward Frisk. What followed the motion were several flower bulbs materializing out of thin air around Frisk. He snapped his fingers and they all opened and moved toward Frisk at once. She tried to dodge, but was caught completely off guard by the attack. Asgore had always attacked with fire or his trident. She misstepped into one of the blooming flowers, taking damage. As she took the hit, he looked a bit frightful, but showed no signs of stopping.

As she moved her hand toward the ACTs she could do, her vision lingered a moment on the FIGHT button. Couldn't she fight Asgore? Would it be easier than trying to talk him out of attacking her? That is how she always fought Asgore anyway. He always destroyed her MERCY and forced her hand. Isn't this the same? Frisk saw Flowey peeking at her from behind Asgore. He looked... worried?

Frisk shook her head and ACTed. She only had a couple options. Talk, Flirt, and Scoff. Frisk tried the obvious option first. Pointing at him with both fingers she exclaimed, "I hope you're a doctor," then pointed at herself with her thumbs, "cause you make my heart skip a _bleat,_ " she was surprised her voice came out as confident as it did. _Heh, still got it._

Asgore blushed and replied, "I-I am a married man!" He threw both arms into the air. As he did, flower petals began to fall from thin air and fluttered around her in a more familiar pattern.

Frisk moved carefully, dodging his attacks with much effort. It seemed flustering him caused his attacks to become faster. She ACTed, and said, "I'm sorry, I just... I came down here to find someone. I don't want to FIGHT or hurt anyone."

Asgore seemed to hesitate for a moment, "I am sorry... but I must do this for the future of my family." His eyes briefly flashed a bright red. He looked down at the ground as he fired another set of petals.

Frisk found it much more difficult to dodge this attack than before. Had Asgore found his resolve? "If you hurt me... won't Tori be mad?"

Asgore hesitated further. "My wife... she would not be happy... but we are running out of options..." He waved his hands, causing many flower bulbs to materialize all around Frisk. She managed to dance her way around them, though her margin of error seemed to narrow.

"Please, I don't want to fight you." Frisk gave him a small smile as she pleaded.

Asgore looked away. He rubbed his palms with his thumb as he thought, finally he looked up with a frown, his eyes glinting red. "If I capture you... then we will be allowed to re-enter the kingdom... then my child... will have a chance at life..." With that, he took in a deep breath and rained more petals upon Frisk. As she dodged the fluttering flowers, she miscalculated and took several points of damage. She mentally cursed herself for forgetting to take a piece of monster candy.

Frisk was about to speak, but then Flowey appeared between Asgore and Frisk.

"Hey Gori," Flowey had a huge smile on his face. "Uh, I see you met the human."

"Oh, uh, yes, I have," Asgore looked down at the flower. "We were just... chatting."

"I think Tori needs help with the groceries... she is planning on having the human come over for dinner," Flowey looked aside nervously. "Uh... I think you should go and help her. Don't you? Instead of doing... something I think you would regret?"

"Ah... yes," Asgore blinked a few times, the light in his eyes seeming to dim somewhat. He returned Flowey's smile. "I... I suppose I should." With that, Frisk's soul returned, and Asgore looked apologetic. "I... I am sorry human. I am not sure what came over me... We should not be fighting." He bowed awkwardly, then ran off.

"Hey... uh, Frisk you said your name was?" Flowey twisted his stem to look back at Frisk. Frisk nodded at his question. "You really should have listened to Tori. You shouldn't be walking around here... you might've... or someone could've been..."

Frisk tilted her head in confusion. Why was Flowey acting genuinely worried about her? About the other monsters? Yet, she couldn't deny the look of fear and frustration on Flowey's face. Frisk saw a similar face before, but this one was different. It came from a more innocent place.

"Listen, why don't I escort you back home. I'm sure Tori won't mind," Flowey nodded to himself. "It's just this way." Frisk nodded at Flowey, but kept her distance.

As they traveled through the rest of the ruins, Flowey kept plopping up and down out of the ground, shooing away the weaker Monsters while Frisk completed the puzzles. He scared off the monsters by making the creepy faces Frisk was used to being on the receiving end on. Finally, they made it to the familiar structure Frisk oft recalled in her dreams. The normally dead tree was very much alive. It's red leaves had littered the ground somewhat, but not as badly as it had in the previous timeline. Frisk could see the glowing, blue save point, but this time it was nearly buried in a beautiful garden. In front of the home, she saw Asgore and Tori speaking, with Tori pressing a phone to her ear. She looked as Asgore pointed to Frisk, a look of shock, then disappointment washing over her face. She hung up the phone.

"Frisk, dear... You should have stayed where I told you," Tori scolded. "You didn't get hurt, did you? Look at you... have you been fighting?"

The human nodded sheepishly. Tori shook her head, then turned toward the house.

"Come along, you won't get healed until you've had something to eat." Tori walked and disappeared into the home, Asgore returned Frisk's sheepish nod, and followed his wife inside.

Frisk stood outside for a moment with Flowey. She approached the save point and held her hand out to it, it's warm glow caressing her hand with its energy. She saved with the menu, and as time proceeded, Flowey cocked his head and gave her a strange look, but said nothing. Instead, he disappeared into the ground as Frisk entered the home.

They all sat around the table in an awkward silence. The wood fireplace gave the room warmth despite the chill Frisk could feel coming from the cracks in the foundation of the home. Flowey sat in a flower pot in his own seat. They all had bowls of cold soup, aside from Flowey. Frisk took a sip, and had to hold still to not recoil from the taste. Tori read Frisk's expression and sighed. "I am sorry my dear... I called Gori, but he did not _answer his phone_... so I had to make due." As she stressed the words, Frisk could tell Tori was angry with Asgore. Asgore stared down into his bowl.

"Well, I think it is delightful," Asgore ate his portion without complaint. Every now and then he seemed to eye Frisk. Frisk felt guilty, despite the fact that Asgore had attacked her first. Of course... if she hadn't had taken the true reset... Frisk shook her head as she took another bite. She could practically feel a chill creep up her spine as she did.

After dinner, Tori guided Frisk to her room. It was in the usual place. "I know this is not much, but, I hope you enjoy yourself here... please do not venture about the ruins without myself or Gori. It is... unsafe." Tori looked away as she spoke the last words before she walked away. Frisk understood what Tori actually meant. Tori was not worried that Frisk would get hurt... she was afraid that someone else would get hurt.

Frisk settled into her bedroom, which was recently cleaned. The wood floors looked a bit moldy and rotten, and the bed felt lumpy. Frisk could tell Tori had tried. Frisk sighed as she waited. After several minutes had passed, Frisk couldn't wait any longer. She stood up and made for the door. Flowey appeared from the floorboards behind her. "Frisk, where are you going?"

Frisk looked down at Flowey. She shook her head and opened the door. The house was eerily quiet. However, as she approached the room at the end of the hall, she could hear Tori or Asgore in their room.

"Tori, we really cannot allow this human to stay with us in our home... I understand that you want to give them a chance, but..." Asgore trailed off.

Frisk heard Tori sigh. She could hear heavy footsteps and then the sound of someone climbing into bed. Tori said, "Asgore, not all humans are bad. We know this as a fact. Remember...?" Frisk couldn't quite make out the whisper near the end. A name?

"You know as well as I do that they were found guilty, Tori. We trusted them and then... and then..." Asgore sounded like he couldn't speak anymore.

"Let us rest on it tonight. The door is firmly locked, and... I just do not believe the human will hurt us... I think we should believe in the philosophy of the king."

Frisk heard no more, but saw movement in the corner of her eye. She looked down to see Flowey had popped up wearing a confused expression. He pointed to her room with his leaf and disappeared. Instead of going back as Flowey seemed to suggest, Frisk started to walked to and down into the basement of the building. As before, the hallway was long, but in disrepair like the rest of the house. Flowey kept springing up to speak to Frisk.

"Frisk, how do you know this is the way out?"

"Frisk, you really, really, shouldn't leave."

"It doesn't matter what Asgore said. Stay here with us..."

When Frisk reached the end of the hall, she was surprised to see that no one stood there at all. Perhaps she would be able to go straight to Snowdin. Her mission was to see them as soon as possible. After all, if it hadn't been for her mistake... Frisk felt uneasy at the memory. A happier time that abruptly ended with dust... dust on red. It replayed in her mind. A memory from years ago, though it was a moment that was technically in the future. The terrible sound of trumpets, a shrill cry, and then just... dust. Dust on her clothing... the ground... and her hands. She felt tears start to pool in her eyes, but was pulled out of her vision by Flowey's shaky voice.

"Frisk? A-are you okay?" He asked looking up at her. She looked him in the eyes and saw genuine concern. Genuine concern where there should be none. She felt her breath catch in her throat and the tears began to flow as she realized it. She didn't want to acknowledge the situation, but the truth was plain as the look on Flowey's face. She thrust open the ruin doors and ran out. She ran down the long, dark hallway as Flowey gave chase, shouting, "Wait! Frisk! You shouldn't leave! It's dangerous out there!"

With a final push, Frisk flung the door to Snowdin Forest open and stepped out. She looked around herself, but found nothing new. "I'm still here... I'm still in the Underground. The same Underground... this isn't some new place... this is still the Underground." Frisk tried to convince herself of the lie. She ran as Flowey dared not venture past the door of the ruins, which closed on his sad face.

Frisk saw the giant stick and ran past it. It snapped behind her. Happy with the sound, she raced to the end of the narrow, wooden corridor. She stopped at the bridge, her heart in her throat. Frisk would be meeting him soon. The person that had planted the seed in her head. That ruined their happy ending. She turned, her timing on his entrance perfect. So perfect that she had honestly scared him in many of the runs where she had started to become unhinged and eager.

Just in time for her chest to be impaled by... _something_. The sudden pain overwhelmed her and she was quickly losing consciousness. Frisk caught a glimpse of a cloaked figure before her world turned white.

Her vision burned like a movie reel melting on screen. The sudden white pulled just as suddenly toward the center of her being. The deep purple of the ruins flooded her eyes, and she gasped for breath for a moment. Usually, she would be greeted by the faint murmur of King Asgore speaking to Chara, but instead she received that violent vision of the world whiting out. It almost felt like she had really died. She found herself standing at the front of the home she had stood before just a couple hours earlier. Flowey behind her gasped.

"That was... you are in control, aren't you? Did you... die?" Frisk turned to see Flowey's concerned face. "I... well, never mind. Hey, wait." Flowey tilted his head. "You didn't have a flower in your hair earlier, did you?" Frisk shook her head and felt her hair. She felt something soft on top of her hair. Yet, when she tried to pull it off to see it, it hurt somewhat. Like pulling a hair from one's head, she looked down at her hand and saw a single blue petal.


	2. Ruins, an unkind smile

Frisk stared at the petal for a moment, perplexed. Frisk whispered to the petal, but it did not repeat anything. Frisk tenderly pulled at the flower on her head, but it seemed glued on. She felt around the base of it, but it was... a part of her. She looked at Flowey with a bewildered look.

"What... what did you do to me?" Frisk asked out loud, to any of the ones who could be listening. She could feel a thudding in her chest.

"W-what do you mean? I didn't do anything!" The blue flower protested. He crossed his leaves. "I-I told you not to go out there, but you did it anyway!"

The thudding in her chest grew louder, though Flowey didn't seem able to hear it. Frisk wrapped her fingers around the flower and gave it a tug, but it was painful enough to stop her. "Ouch!"

"Is... is it attached to you now?" Flowey asked.

Frisk looked down at the ground, deep in thought. Flowey popped up closer to Frisk, within her view. "Frisk... I really didn't do anything. I... I don't know what happened out there, but it wasn't me."

"I know..." Frisk sighed. It was a cloaked figure.

Tori's head popped out the door. "My dears, you have been standing there for a quite some time. You would enjoy some dinner, would you not?" Frisk blinked and nodded.

At the same dinner, Frisk ate Tori's cold soup, but was prepared this time. She gave a small thumbs up, though she felt like throwing up all over the table.

"Oh, haha, my dear... you do not need to pretend you enjoy this soup. _Gori did not answer his phone_ , so I was forced to improvise..." Tori gave her husband a cold glare. Asgore stared at his bowl again, continuing to eat its contents.

"Tori, I do not believe this tastes so bad," Asgore picked up the bowl and drank it whole. His lips quivered as he swallowed, then he placed the bowl back down onto the table. "It... it is quite delicious."

"Ah yes, I can see that," Tori winked at her husband, and gave him a sly grin. "I can see that you are _soup_ er excited." Asgore gave a chuckle while Flowey seemed to roll his eyes. "I suppose my cooking is quite _pho_ nomenal, but when you are not here to cook with me, I cannot help but wonder why I even _broth_ er." With that Asgore let out a deep, sincere laugh.

"My wife, what a comedian!" Asgore looked from Tori to Frisk and Flowey, then back to Tori. "Well, please don't be _salt_ y with me, love. I _fried_ my best."

Tori squinted at her husband with a frown, shrugged, and began to eat in silence.

"Tori... Tori, get it? I _fried_ my best? It is funny because..." Asgore leaned in to explain his joke to his wife, but Flowey interrupted him.

"Listen, pops. That pun was pretty funny, it just wasn't _soup_ erb." Flowey gave Tori a big, white smile. She giggled at his pun and reached out a hand to him. He seemed to recoil, which caused her to withdraw her pink gloved paw.

"Forgive me, Flowey," Tori smiled quietly. "I forget... sometimes you remind me of someone, I suppose."

"Heh, yeah..." Flowey looked aside with a nervous grin. "That's alright. I'm just glad we could enjoy dinner with a new friend!" Flowey looked to Frisk, who had been observing the whole time, chuckling a bit at everyone's puns. They were her biggest weakness. "Frisk, I'm really glad you're here."

Frisk looked at Flowey and mentally attacked him for putting her on the spot. "O-oh, yeah... Thank you for the dinner, Tori and Asgore."

"Of course, my dear," Tori shook her head as if the dinner was a given. "It would not be _hoof_ someone of my station to let a guest go hungry."

"Someone of your station?" Frisk was curious. Toriel and Asgore are the Queen and King of the Underground... were they ruling from the ruins now? She hadn't given it much thought. "Are you like... the queen?"

Tori gave a quiet laugh as she shook her head. "Good heavens, my dear! No, I am not a queen of any kind... Certainly not." Tori looked furious for half a second, before looking at Frisk with a gentle smile. "No, I am... or rather, I was the captain of the royal guard."

"Really?" Frisk nearly jumped out of her seat. "You were the captain?"

"Oh, yes, Frisk." Tori looked proud of herself as she said her next words, "I worked for the honorable king, and was even trained by... by... my goodness, I forget his name, but I am very highly trained. I worked hard to protect not only my people, but the humans who would fall into our realm of monsters."

"Wow..." Frisk's amazed face betrayed her, though her amazement was for another reason. Their youthful appearance, Toriel's being a captain... what did it mean? This was not a normal reset. She had half believed she had gone further into the past for a brief time, but this confirmed that wasn't the case. "And Asgore... what did you do?"

Asgore seemed caught off guard, "Er, I-I... I used to be the royal gardener. Not quite as glamorous as my wife, but I maintained the appearance of the castle, yes."

"So..." This next question would prove quite awkward, but she had to find out. "Why are you here? I mean-" Frisk gestured around herself. "This doesn't look like a castle, and Tori, you said you used to be the captain... I guess that means you aren't anymore?"

Tori and Asgore exchanged a few looks. Tori was the one who spoke for them, "Ah, yes. You are correct, my dear. Gori and I... we were forced to flee from our home and our positions with the royal family. It is... quite difficult to speak about. However, I can tell you this." Tori gave Frisk a firm nod and a determined look. "You will stay here with us, and you will be protected from **them**. If you ever tried to leave... my dear... you would be **killed**. **They** would see to it."

The way Tori spoke made Frisk feel like a small child again. She spoke with an air of authority that Frisk had a hard time denying. Not only that, but her statement was a demand rather than a request. Frisk couldn't help but wonder what a Toriel who had been a captain might fight like. Would the fight be as easy as it had been that last time? The outfit Tori wore reminded her somewhat of a mage-like character from a video game she played as a child. What sorts of tricks and skills would this Tori have? Frisk felt excited at the thought. Perhaps this time, Tori would put up a real fight.

After dinner, the pair of monsters didn't immediately expect bedtime. Instead, Asgore entered the kitchen and Tori showed Frisk her room, kindly adding, "This is your new room! I hope you enjoy living here with us. If you need me, I shall be in the kitchen with Asgore." Tori hurried away with that final statement, leaving Frisk alone holding Flowey in his flowerpot. Tori didn't seem to noticeably keep her distance as much, and her smile seemed less small than it had been. The first thing Frisk did was save outside. Dinner had gone well, and she did not want to try to repeat that result.

Frisk decided to inspect her room further. Frisk re-entered the home, and took a step inside her room. "What are you doing now?" Flowey asked. Frisk replied that she wanted to explore. She placed his flowerpot on the drawer. Before her death in Snowdin, she did not pay much attention to the room. After all, it looked much the same as it had before. However, as she inspected the room, she noticed there was no dusty picture frame. Instead, it looked like a child's drawing was in that frame. Three stick figures that looked like bunnies standing in a field of blue flowers with diamond-shaped, blue stars. As Frisk inspected the frame, Flowey looked a bit uncomfortable in his flower pot and had been uncharacteristically quiet. She gave him a look.

"W-what is it?" Flowey looked away from her gaze.

"You just seem... uncomfortable?" Frisk offered.

"Well, I guess I just don't know what is going on. I thought it was odd that you were using my save points..." Flowey scratched a petal with a leaf, thoughtful. "I haven't seen a human... in a long time, I guess you could say? So I wasn't sure what to expect. Do all humans have the power to save and load?"

"Um, no, I didn't have this power before I came here."

"Heh heh..." Flowey shook his head. "The way you talk and act... It kind of seems like you must've had the power before you landed down here."

Flowey was fishing for information. Frisk wasn't sure what to say, so replied honestly, "It's a bit complicated?" The flower seemed to accept that answer, though his expression became somewhat hurt.

Frisk resumed her exploration of the room. It seemed that the room was as clean as it ever was. The mattress was somewhat lumpy, but otherwise, the sheets smelled crisp and clean. She laid on the bed for a moment and let her thoughts drift around. A major thought that came to mind was the question of where she was. The Dreemurrs were not royalty here, and if so, what else has changed? Who were the king and queen now? She also wondered if she would meet the skeleton brothers in Snowdin again. The thought reminded her of the attack that killed her near the bridge. She sighed heavily. Whoever was outside the doors was hostile... so it couldn't be that short, tubby skeleton.

The human's face flushed red in thought as she remembered him. It had been so long since she last saw him, and, well, that had not been a particularly good farewell. She felt a pit grow in her stomach as she thought about him and her genocide of the monsters previously. She imagined him remembering her dusty hands, her unwarranted cruelty, and thought perhaps it was Sans who had killed her so suddenly on the bridge.

Frisk realized that this was not necessarily the same Underground she had fallen into before. Asgore was in the ruins with Toriel, and neither of them were royalty. What if this place wasn't her Underground? What if she couldn't undo what has already been done? Her face scrunched up at the thought.

"Are you okay? You look like you are about to barf or something..." Flowey interrupted her thoughts with his voice. "You are making a really gross face." Frisk opened her eyes and looked over at Flowey.

"I'm fine," She lied. She calmed herself down with the fleeting thought that Sans didn't remember any resets before, so she had nothing to worry about with this run. She would get the happy ending, and everything would be okay. Maybe somehow her genociding had messed up the timelines? Either way, everything would turn out okay in the end as long as she stayed determined. "I was just thinking about what to do."

"You mean, are you thinking about leaving again?" He nervously frowned and looked taken a bit aback. "D-didn't you bite the dust back there? W-why would you want to go back? Tori isn't lying."

"I'll think of something..." Frisk took a deep breath and sat up. She did a quick scan of the room, but found nothing else had really changed. She found the picture frame incredibly interesting this time around since she knew it was a drawing of the whole Dreemurr family. The toys, however, still did not interest Frisk.

Frisk ventured into the living room with Flowey in tow where she could already smell the heavenly scent of pie. There was a broom sweeping the floor in the living room on it's own. Frisk raised an eyebrow at it, but moved into the kitchen without another word. In the kitchen, she walked into a hushed conversation that suddenly stopped. Both Dreemurrs looked like they had been caught with their paws in the cookie jar. "I must attend to the flowers outside..." Asgore quickly withdrew himself from the conversation and exited. Tori simply shook her head.

"Forgive my husband, my dear," Tori turned her focus to her signature pie on the kitchen counter. She touched the pan it sat in with a single finger and gave a big smile. "Ah, I believe the pie has cooled off now. Would you care for a slice? My husband has also made tea..."

Frisk nodded. Tori cut her a piece and poured her a cup of tea in Asgore's stead. They both than entered the living room. Tori sat on her recliner with a cup of tea of her own. Frisk sat on the floor by Tori's feet, but closest to the fire place. She always loved feeling the warmth on her. Flowey sat in his flower pot between them.

"So Frisk, tell me... how did you end up down here?" Tori asked as she tapped her cup of tea once, than took a sip. "I am always curious to hear why some humans end up in our domain."

"Oh, well, I tripped? I tumbled down into the ruins." This was not necessarily a lie, of course. Frisk just chose to omit that she could reset time. Tori simply nodded as she took another sip of her tea. Frisk tried to take a sip as well, but nearly burned her tongue off. Flowey gave Frisk an incredulous look, but said nothing.

"In any case, I hope you will find happiness here with us, Frisk," Tori looked down into her tea. "I know we do not have much, but, I know we can make it work."

"Maybe..." Frisk held her tea up to her mouth and blew, hoping to cool it down. How could Tori drink this so hot? As she did so, she thought about how she lived with Toriel for months at a time in her initial foray underground. Though in her last few runs she could make the journey in less than a day, her initial journey had been stretched out. She would live with Toriel for months before eventually leaving the ruins. While her first ventures into the rest of the Underground were to find a way back to the surface, Frisk eventually would leave Toriel sooner to try and see if she could help free everyone. A guilty seed planted in her soul as she considered never leaving the ruins. If she never left the ruins, then the incident on the surface would never happen... the reason for her getting into this mess in the first place.

Frisk was standing on the street, waiting for her friend. Though she was legally an adult, it turns out that being an ambassador was a bit much for someone her age. Instead, Frisk helped out wherever she could. Sometimes it meant explaining expressions to Asgore. Other times it was as complex as being the human spokesperson for the monsters. It was a lot of responsibility she shouldered because she felt like she had to, after all, she had once killed Asgore out of curiosity and frustration. How could she say no to him now?

As she waited for the friend, a group of young men approached her. Frisk found this troubling, but did her best to stay calm. Not all young, human men were rude, mean, and sometimes borderline sadistic. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself. How could she have become so afraid of other people? Images flashed in her mind of news reports of monsters, missing monsters, and sometimes dust. She was jostled by the young men, who were loud. They were obnoxious, and the sounds of their voices unfriendly.

The problem with being a spokesperson for monsters was that eventually people could recognize your face. Mettaton believed there was no such thing as bad publicity, but Frisk had found out that wasn't quite true. She gripped the strap of her messenger bag and kept a steady look forward as the humans seemed to crowd her, yelling at her, and assuming things about her. She looked hard and long at a fixed point, a red stop sign. That was something monsters were still getting used to. They knew that humans had red stop signs, but blue worked much better, in their opinion.

The young men weren't letting up. Their words were invading Frisk's attempts to block it out. She turned and started to walk the way they had come from, hoping that they would let up and let her go, but they didn't. It was at that moment, she heard his voice.

"Frisk?" Tori's voice pulled Frisk out of her memory. "You look troubled, my dear. Is something the matter?"

"Oh, oh no... I was just thinking." Frisk let out a deep breath and took a sip. The tea was not as hot this time. Tori smiled and leaned over.

"My dear, you do not need to be afraid," Tori reached her gloved hand to Frisk's head. "I will be here to protect you-"

Tori's hand made contact with Frisk's head, as if to give Frisk a loving pat, but her hand froze for a brief moment before withdrawing. "Ah, f-forgive me. It is rude to touch strangers."

Tori looked away, and Frisk suddenly found Tori's expression hard to read. Frisk, suddenly uncomfortable, quickly finished the pie and got up to place the pie in the sink. When she came back, Tori was gone.

Outside, Frisk found Asgore watering the plants beneath the windows of his little house. Tori was nowhere to be seen. She left Flowey inside at the fireplace. He seemed to bask in its warmth, and didn't look like he wanted to be disturbed.

Asgore had the same, cute watering pail as before. It was shaped like a cartoon elephant, which looked vaguely familiar to Frisk though she couldn't place where she had seen it before. The goat man seemed to hum a tune to himself. She cautiously approached him, still somewhat worried he would attack her. Asgore, noting her presence and the look on her face, nodded slowly at her as he stopped watering the plants.

"Howdy, Frisk. Please, forgive me for attacking you earlier. I... I would not normally have done so." Asgore apologized solemnly. The tenor of his voice made Frisk believe him instantly. Asgore had a way of doing some really bad stuff, but still being pitiable. "I saw you and I thought that perhaps... with your SOUL... I was a fool. It is not right to attack an innocent youth such as yourself."

"It's okay," Frisk gave Asgore a sad, small smile. "Honestly, I've been attacked by everyone, it seems, at least once or twice now."

"Ah. Monsters have had... a rough history with your kind, human," Asgore explained, "After the war with humankind, great magicians sealed us below. But... I suppose you know that already."

Frisk nodded, and with that Asgore resumed watering his garden. Frisk stood there thoughtfully for a moment, and turned to leave, but Asgore stopped her with the sound of her voice.

"Human... While I apologize for my earlier behavior... You cannot stay here as my wife has proposed you do. Please do not tell her I said this, but... We do not have the room for you here. I hope you understand..."

Frisk walked away.

The human made her way toward the stairs. She was a fool to believe she could deny her destiny. Somehow, Frisk would set everyone free again. They would all go to the surface, and from there, Frisk would wash her hands of them. She tried so hard for them. She went back to that abyss, over and over, after she would reach the end. All in hopes that everyone could be saved without anyone needing to die. Frisk's face was stony and her eyes looked hopelessly determined. Frisk descended the stairs, but no one came to stop her. She walked through the halls toward the doors, and no one stopped her. Frisk was nearly offended until she saw Tori stand where she usually would before their fight.

Tori faced the door, and had her hands out. Her pink gloves stood out against the color of the ruins wall and door. She seemed to be chanting something, but abruptly stopped. "Frisk, go back upstairs." It was not a request.

"No, Tori... I am going to leave." Frisk stood her ground. She had to do this.

Tori turned her head, and Frisk could see Tori's eye. Tori looked at Frisk with disappointment. "You may have misunderstood me earlier, my dear. I told you... you will be staying here with us. You are not permitted to leave. Take another step... and I will be forced to handle you."

Without thinking, Frisk took that step forward. She saw Tori turn her head back to the door. A deep sigh escaped Tori's lips. The atmosphere of the room seemed to shift from an uncomfortable silence to one of incredible tension. Tori tilted her head up, and dropped her hands to her sides.

"Frisk, you are dangerous." Tori stated it as a simple fact. Frisk could not argue. "I am not sure how, but... I saw a vision when I touched your crown. I saw a version of you with an unkind smile. I saw a version of you with dusty clothing. Not only that, but... I can see the stain upon your SOUL. You have killed before... and judging by that step you took... you will kill again. So I will give you a final warning, human... Go back upstairs. Live with Gori, Flowey, and I... We will treat you kindly, and I will protect you... in short..." Tori turned around, her expression stern and her eyes determined. "You will rehabilitate... or die."

Frisk's heart started to beat. Toriel never spoke to Frisk like this before. A curiosity in her awoke to this development, and again, Frisk took a step forward. Tori's stern look became a steep frown.

"Then you have left me with no choice." In a single sweeping motion, Tori thrust out her arm. With the action, a gust of wind blew past Frisk. In Tori's thrown hand she carried an oak staff curved in a runic symbol at the head. With her free hand, Tori ran her fingers near her crown, a big brimmed witch's hat forming from thin air. The brim was pinched between her fingers. Frisk's SOUL was pulled from her body, excitement filling her blood. Tori's eyes were obscured by the hat. She said, "Well then... have at you."


	3. Ruins, a moral compass

Frisk made an attempt to smile as her adoptive mother placed a piece of pie down on the table before her, but her expression remained neutral despite her intentions. It was hard for Frisk to feel anything aside from a singular feeling of loathing. It had been months since the _incident_ , and Toriel grew more and more concerned with her daughter's behavior. The human girl barely managed to pass her GED test despite Toriel's tutelage. The older goat woman had been shaken up as much as anyone else had been when they heard the news of the dusting, but Frisk's grief was paralyzing. Toriel talked around the issue often, trying phrase things gently or avoiding the topic altogether, but she could not stand to see her child look so wrapped up with... guilt. The mother placed a loving hand on her child's shoulder, and offered her daughter her ear once more, hoping this time Frisk would take it. "My child, you know you can tell me anything, do you not? I desire to give you the space you need to process what happened... but I worry that in doing so I am now enabling you to... give up on life."

The silence that hung between them seemed to burn in Toriel's mind. She could not let Frisk feel so overwhelmed by herself. She could not go through this again with another child. Toriel worried about drawing parallels between Frisk and her other children, but the burning sensation would not let up. Her words were like the water required to stop the flames. "There was nothing more you could have done, my child," Toriel pulled Frisk into a tight embrace. The corners of Frisk's eyes burned as she felt the tears fighting to escape. "Had you become more involved... if you had stepped in... Frisk, we could have lost more than-"

With that, Frisk pushed away from Toriel. Despite herself, Frisk's tears ran down her face. She wanted to be like him, smiling despite how horrible the world could be. Frisk wanted to be strong, but all she could do was cry and feel sorry for herself. The one emotion she could summon in her voice was anger. "Mom, you don't... You don't get it."

Toriel's eyes narrowed at her child. She looked from Frisk to the ground, "Do you not recall? I was around for the war that had my people sealed away. I understa-"

"No, mom, no." Frisk interrupted, her tone taut. "You don't understand. In fact, it's impossible for you to understand. If I just had more **control** , I could fix everything! If I could just bring up the **damn** menu-" It was Frisk's turn to be interrupted.

" **Frisk,** " Toriel commanded in her motherly voice. "In this home, you will listen to me and obey my rules. We do not curse in this household, and we certainly do not shout at each other. I love you. You are my child. I think it is time that we discuss active healing from this incident. Perhaps it is time to seek help or meditation..."

Frisk stared at the slice of pie as Toriel lectured her. It was butterscotch-cinnamon, Toriel and Frisk's shared favorite. She noticed then that there was also a small, red cookie on the side in the shape of a heart. It had a sugary powder on it. Dust on red...

Red eyes flashed from beyond the witch hat. Tori stood before Frisk wearing a big brimmed witch hat and holding an oaken staff. A feeling of deja vu overtook Frisk. She had fought her mother before in this very same room. The delta rune on the double doors leading to Snowdin seemed to have something etched around them, but Frisk had no time to inspect this now. Frisk felt the air around her chill as Tori began to levitate from the ground. The goat woman was poised, ready for battle. This Tori was not like the Toriel of her past. Was it so wrong to feel excited? To see something new from a familiar face? Frisk immediately CHECKed Tori.

* Tori - ATK 80 DEF 80

* Only wants what is best for everyone.

"You know, I had once stood in the sun, protecting not only my people... but your people as well," Tori spoke to the ground as icicles began to appear from the ground beneath Frisk's SOUL. The red SOUL moved around, dodging the attacks. It was unexpected, and Frisk felt a strange feeling in her heart. She was about to see something truly awe inspiring.

Frisk lingered on the ACT menu but saw nothing there for her aside from CHECK. She considered for a moment trying to MERCY her would-be mother, but, weren't monsters always at their best when actually challenged? As she fought, Frisk had expected to fight with her bare hands. However, a red knife materialized in her right palm. She looked at it strangely. Tori didn't wait for Frisk to make her attack.

"Even after the humans banished us, I believed in them." Tori summoned a micro hail storm over the red SOUL. The small, hard pellets came out in a zigzag of sorts. Frisk struggled to find the pattern, taking some damage in response.

Once the spell finished, Frisk lunged at Tori with the red knife. The red knife seemed to hit something right in front of Tori that Frisk had not seen. It crackled under the slice of the knife. Tori looked up at Frisk with a determined look.

"Even after our people banished us, I still believed," Tori's next attack was familiar to Frisk. It resembled a giant double helix, made of snowflakes rather than fire. Frisk felt relieved by the familiar attack, weaving her soul in and out of the attack. The attack dissipated, and Frisk wasted no time. With a tight grip, she attacked Tori once again.

Again it was deflected by some invisible barrier.

"But here we are, human, fighting. I cannot help but wonder if I have been wrong to believe... Would my son... my son..." Tori muttered, her face lowering even more, her face completely obscured by her hat. Frisk couldn't help but feel her interest piqued. Of course Asriel had died in this timeline too, after all, Flowey was present. The hail storm fell again, dropping Frisk down to half her health. She cursed under her breath at the damage. Frisk tried again to attack, but already knew the result: no hit. What would it take to land a blow to Tori?

"My son... my poor... son..." The room became deathly quiet as Tori landed on her knees. Frisk tilted her head confused for a moment, but realized the goat woman was crying. It was then Frisk noticed her ACT button glowing red. She examined her new options...

* BARRIER BREAK

What was that? She had never seen an ACT like that before. Without a second thought, Frisk pressed it. Her body seemed to work on its own. She lifted her free, left hand toward Tori and shouted, "Barrier break!" The once invisible wall surrounding Tori shattered visibly before her like glass. Once the shards hit the ground, they dissipated from existence. Frisk noticed Tori holding her face in her hands as she wept. Tori was completely distracted by her grief.

The red knife burned in Frisk's right hand. Its heat comforted her, and she felt guided to end this mother's suffering. That was her mission this whole time, was it not? To end suffering for everyone. Was this not just another means to that end?

You are filled with determination.

The words echoed through her body and mind. Her unstoppable force of will. What she wanted would happen, no matter what. Even the impossible was not outside of her reach. Her constant reincarnation was proof of this, was it not?

With a wicked smile, she approached the grieving mother. Still a wretch as ever. Still just a sad, old woman. The knife came down...

And was met with her staff!

"I am done with believing in humans," Tori looked up from her grounded position. With those words, a large, white circle appeared below Frisk's feet. Frisk could not see Tori's obscured face, but the eye Frisk could see flashed white. As it did, Tori managed to push Frisk far from her, whirling her staff with a flourish. "You would attack me at my lowest point... I cannot go easy on you any longer. This is the point of no return..."

The sorceress floated high into the air, both of her eyes glowing white with power. "I was told it is dangerous for me to go all out while I carry another little one... but in your case, I have run low on options." Tori started to chant a spell beneath her breath. A triangle appeared within the circle, its lines traced in white. Distracted by the appearing lines, Frisk didn't notice the room grow hotter until fire balls summoned and spiraled around. Frisk found little room for error as she danced with the flames. In many ways, she was already practiced to handle this particular spell. It was a piece of King Asgore's repertoire. Before Frisk could even react, Tori whirled her staff around. Several electrical bolts shot from it, following the red SOUL despite being unprepared. Frisk tumbled backward, not having expected the attack.

The Supreme Sorceress has appeared.

Frisk narrowed her eyes at Tori, and through gritted teeth rolled quickly out of the way of a large bolt Tori launched to finish the electrical attack with.

"I am the master of magic, human," Tori's voice was calm. In many ways, she sounded just like the Toriel Frisk knew. "No human has ever gotten past me. You will surely perish."

Her SOUL suddenly turned orange-red. As she stood still, she felt her body and SOUL burn, she rolled into a standing position, finding that it alleviated the pain and quickly began running side to side as Tori fired off another round of fire balls.

"You will witness my special attack," Tori stated plainly. A crescent moon shape appeared within the circle. As it did, more shapes brightly formed alongside the crescent moon both within and without the triangle. "Good bye, foolish one."

Frisk could feel that this would be the end of the fight if she didn't act quickly. Her ACT was a dark red color once more, and so she pulled it up.

* ?

With nothing left to lose, Frisk pressed the curious option. Once again, she reached out with her free, left hand and chanted, "[WINGDINGS]." The words were foreign to her, and she did not understand what she had even said. However, the magic circle that had started to swirl beneath her feet seemed to go haywire. The lines spun quickly, wire-like strings breaking from the circle. Quickly, the whole thing faded away. For once, Tori looked shocked, even horrified. Without realizing it, Frisk had leaped toward Tori and slashed. Her hand felt guided. Her blade bore deep into Tori's shoulder. Her already widened eyes opened more as the pain flooded her body.

"That's high-level magic... how...?" Tori exclaimed pulling away from Frisk; the red knife buried deep into her shoulder. She collapsed to the floor on her knees again, but her form looked completely unstable. "I... I... I was wrong about you humans..." Tori pulled her head back and laughed. "D.e.s.p.i.t.e. e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g., I... c.o.u.l.d. n.o.t. p.r.o.t.e.c.t..." As she spoke, her voice wavered as if these words took all her leftover power to say. Her body began to disintegrate, turning to dust. First her legs, then her waist, and as it reached her torso, Tori managed to utter her last words. "... e.i.t.h.e.r. o.f. m.y. c.h.i.l.d.r.e.n."

All that remained in that room of Tori was her hat. Everything else about her turned to dust. Frisk looked down at the ground, seeing an insignificant pile of dust. Without another word, Frisk walked into the long hallway behind the double doors. Each step felt like hours as the distance grew between Frisk and Tori. It was okay, right? It wasn't like Tori was dead for good. Frisk was just curious about Tori and her power. Tori and the story she would probably not tell her without being pushed to the brink of death. Seeing her monster family in all their glory... that was okay, was it not? All she needed to do was...

Reset?

Frisk stood in front of Flowey. His blue face pointed at her, but his eyes seemed to look beyond Frisk. He was looking at her face, but not into her eyes. Frisk clenched her fists, ready to be ridiculed by Flowey for giving in again. For, again, killing Toriel in this kill or be killed world.

"Did you really... have to go that far?" Flowey's voice was soft and sounded more closely like the voice Frisk had only heard a few times before. "Don't you think there could've been another way?"

There was a long silence between them. Frisk could say nothing to Flowey. Instead, she felt guilt surging up her spine.

"I... I understand how you feel, Frisk," Flowey's lips curled into a small smile as he looked away from Frisk. "When I watched you fight... You reminded me of me... I can't help but wonder if maybe you've already seen this all before. I wonder if you feel bored of this world..."

Frisk felt her breath catch in her throat. If she said a word, she knew she would start crying. Instead, she stayed silent and held her ground.

"There is still hope for you if you have the same power that I had... go back and undo what you have done. You didn't kill anyone in the ruins, so I think that... the fight was some weird mistake. Mom would never have gone after you so viciously as she did... reset this mistake, Frisk."

With that, Flowey plunged into the earth. By themselves, Frisk's feet moved forward. One after another. Her health was extremely low, but Frisk did not care. Finally, she was outside.

The brisk air chilled her to the bone. Frisk didn't seem to notice. Her mind was numb as she walked with one foot in front of the other. _Reset_ , Frisk thought as she walked toward the bridge. _Reset this mistake, reset this mistake_. It was so simple, wasn't it? Any mistake could just be reset, and it would be as if nothing had ever happened. Isn't that how Frisk got into this mess in the first place? Her heart felt heavy with guilt. _Reset._ Isn't that what caused her to feel free with her curiosity? She could kill some of her friends. She could spare some of her friends. She could start out merciful and destroy everyone near New Home. Frisk could commit mass murder in the ruins and come out a saint. She killed in various combinations when she came back into the Underground. When she realized that it was her last chance to see the different outcomes.

Frisk reached the bridge and stood paralyzed before it. How had she not learned her lesson? Frisk cannot quickly reset her mistakes in this world. She could not let her strange and morbid curiosity overcome her. The human let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding in. Hot tears streamed down her face, leaving streaks as it did. That was when she sensed it. The hooded creature that had killed her stood behind her. She turned around to meet it.

They stood before her, towering her by a whole head and a half. Frisk had a hard time seeing this monster, as the hot tears in her eyes blurred her vision. They seemed to be dressed like death, in black robes with a black hood. The hood completely shrouded the monster's head in darkness, but she could make out the delta rune symbol on their chest. It was in white; however, it laid on a dark blue color. Frisk was certain this was the monster who had killed her before. It seemed to let her live for longer this time around. _Reset._

Frisk suddenly reached out to the creature, grabbing at what seemed like it's arm. Hysterically, she yanked them toward her, but they resisted, pulling away and retaking a step.

"H-help me," Frisk stuttered as she continued to pull at his sleeve. "I-I... I need to die." She looked up at the grim reaper with wide, frightened eyes. "I need-" The wind was taken out of her as the great monster pulled her close, his hood falling back with the motion. They had a skull for a head. They wore a familiar, broad smile.

"would be wrong of me not to help a lady in need," he mused, his skeletal mouth not moving an inch. Somehow, his eyes were not as friendly as she remembered, and his smile, while full, did not seem quite as happy. He brought his face close to Frisk's, almost as if he intended to kiss her somehow. "though i guess i would never have considered myself a lady _killer_." He chuckled at his pun. Frisk looked up at him, some of the fear leaving her face. Something about that disturbed the skeleton, and he reared his head back. Shortly after he shrugged. "now, since you won't mind... i'll take your SOUL as payment, little lady."

The human felt a sudden pain in her abdomen, and she could feel her vision turning white just has it had before. The world around her burned out, though she could feel her body drop into the snowy ground as the skeleton seemed to curse to himself over and over. His voice became so distant that she could no longer understand anything he said.

* * *

The entire world was dark. Much darker than she had seen anywhere else in the Underground. A ray of light grew from a singular point, bathing golden flowers in its radiance. Facing away was a young human. They had brown hair tied up in a messy ponytail, fair skin, and their eyes were such a rich brown they could be mistaken for red. It took Frisk a moment to realize she was alive, but somewhere else. She approached the young human, but paused in her footsteps. Something about them was uncomfortably familiar. Nevertheless, they were human. Humans only wanted to hurt others... even Frisk, herself, was proof of that. The other human seemed to sense her presence and took his gaze from the flowers to her eyes. There was no mistaking it this person looked like an older Chara. He wore different clothing, a green button-up shirt with a yellow bow tie. Despite his soft look and friendly face, Frisk knew better than to trust him.

Greetings, I am Chara.

Frisk narrowed her eyes at him. She took a step back but was ready to fight.

I understand if you are angry with me, however, you are mad at the wrong people.

I am not the Chara of your world. I am also not the one who has killed others for the sake of curiosity.

Even without a weapon, Chara found the right dagger to twist. Frisk paused in her tracks and flinched as he spoke the words.

In fact, am I quite sure I am a victim of your brutality, Frisk. After all... you used my magic to kill poor Toriel Dreemurr.

Frisk looked at him confused.

Your connection to... let us call him, C D for the sake of simplicity. Chara Dreemurr, or C D, is the Chara of your world.

Do you not think you may have molded him into who he is now? Do you say you are entirely blameless in this?

And now you use this connection to corrupt me as well... When you first appeared here, I made the same mistake as he...

I lent you my determination because I sensed that you had none. However, it seemed that you were meant like a Trojan Horse.

You were sent here to infect me, but I was more cunning... and now you are cursed.

The flowers that sprout from your body are my doing, but my hand was forced.

Each time you die, you are closer to true death. Each flower signifies your weakening hold over the material world.

However...

Chara looked Frisk up and down, and his eyes softened.

I can sense that you feel guilt. You feel regret for what you have done in the past... and despite your actions most recently, you regret killing our great captain.

You do not trust me as I do not trust you. However, if there is hope you can be made right again... then I shall aid you.

Frisk took in a deep breath. She always found it difficult to speak to Chara the few times he had bothered to approach her in the abyss. She wasn't sure what to say.

Say nothing, Frisk. Prove to me that you will change, and I will help you in any way that I can... Until we meet again.

* * *

When Frisk blinked, she appeared from that otherworldly space to the save point in front of the Dreemurr's home. Her head hurt somewhat, and she hugged something close to her body. She stood there holding Flowey in his flower pot, which she now hugged. He looked up at her with a soft smile. His eyes traveled from her eyes up to where the blue flower had been. He grew a concerned look.

"There is another flower on your head, Frisk," His smile wavered for a moment, but he tried his best to look sharp. "Thank you... for resetting. I know it is a bit hard, but... I know you are a good person."

"How can you tell that?" Frisk responded quickly and shortly. She felt like a monster. Not like her friends, but the sort of monsters she heard of as a child before she found her family beneath the earth. "How can everyone be so sure that I'm..."

"You didn't attack me, for one thing," Flowey gestured with his leaf, tapping it with his other leaf. "For another, you didn't kill da-Gori." He tapped his blade, but fumbled with his words, apparently forgetting he had already referred to Tori as his mother earlier. "Finally... Tori came after you pretty harshly out of nowhere. I mean, I knew a lil about how strong she was, but... what was that about? Were you trying to leave again?"

"Yeah..." Frisk sighed. Toriel always blocked the way to the ruins, but this time her words were starkly different. She wasn't trying to protect Frisk from the monsters. No, she was trying to protect the monsters from Frisk. Rightfully so. Frisk hated the strange feeling that crawled up her spine. She wanted to be a better person, and not descend into madness as she had in the prior run. Her curiosity got the better of her. Sometimes, she felt like her body moved on its own, but Frisk felt that a poor excuse. She lamented how quickly she turned away from pacifism.

"Listen, Frisk," Flowey folded his petals and seemed to prepare to lecture her. "I can tell that Tori is going to guard that door again... and if you want to leave so badly, well... I guess I've got to go with you."

Frisk gave Flowey a blank stare. Flowey was strange enough with his helpful demeanor and his lack of calling her an idiot. She was unsure about bringing him along. Flowey seemed able to read the expression on her face and rolled his eyes.

"Look, I don't want you to feel forced to kill Tori again, but I also don't want anything bad to happen to you." Flowey suddenly blushed, looked away, and quickly added, "O-or anybody else Underground! I-I mean, you defeated Tori at her full power! I am not sure how you did that, and honestly, that means I should keep my eye on you, right?"

Frisk laughed to herself and shook her head. Flowey wanted to help her out. Oddly, this time... perhaps Flowey would help be her moral compass as opposed to goading her to hurt her friends.


	4. Ruins, echos of the past

"So uh... what are we doing here?" Came Flowey's question as Frisk set him down on the ground in the center of the falling puzzle within the ruins. The pair had backtracked back toward the western end of the cavern, though Flowey wasn't sure why. Despite his concerns, the monsters seemed to give up attacking Frisk for the time being. Instead, they watched from afar as the Wanderers ventured back into the other end of the ruins.

"If I face Tori again... I'll need all the help I can get," Frisk looked around the room. This was the puzzle in which the traveler needed to fall down the correct hole and flip a switch. She could see the hole she had jumped into to pass this puzzle the first time. Its placement was etched into her mind from so many runs. She walked over to a 'hidden' hole at random and fell in.

Truthfully, Frisk wasn't sure if she could look at Tori. The fight had been so different, and it had reminded her that she couldn't treat monster lives like playthings.

"Who is going to help you? You have me!" Flowey shouted from above.

"Not a 'who', but a 'what'. I'm trying to remember where it was," the corner of Frisk's lips turned up in thought. The human landed on the ground below, gently on a bed of flowers. Beside her, she saw the familiar forehead of a Vegetoid. "Not it," she sighed.

"What are you looking for exactly?" Flowey's voice sounded snide and impatient, a lot closer to how she remembered him sounding. Oddly enough, it comforted her.

"I think it belonged to a human," Frisk picked another spot and jumped onto it, falling through easily. Flowey leaned in closer to the hole she created in case she would continue her thought, but instead, was met with silence.

"You are so descriptive, Frisk!" Flowey spoke in a sarcastically chipper voice. "Surely, I will help you find this long lost human item."

"Sorry," Frisk giggled somewhat. She stood and looked over. This hole was empty. "It's a red ribbon, though I think the color is probably a bit faded? I guess I have a theory that some of the stuff down here belonged to the humans who came before me."

"AH HA!" Flowey pointed a stem at Frisk. "There it is!"

Frisk frowned at Flowey's smug face. If he was turning evil again, at least he was close enough for her to punch. "What?"

"You've already done all this! Just like your fight with Tori, the way you seem slightly bored sometimes even though you are literally in a cavern filled with monsters... it's not normal! You've already done a run, huh?" Flowey's self-satisfied face beamed with delight at his words. He was acting like a child who just caught their parents in a bold faced lie. Frisk couldn't help but blush somewhat in embarrassment. She had been trying to keep her status as a seasoned time traveler under wraps.

The human was intrigued by the idea of being able to talk about resets with another person. Especially with someone who would understand what it was like to wield the reset power personally.

"Yeah... you got me," Frisk rolled her eyes, but smiled. "You don't have to be so smug about it though."

"I kinda do, I think," Flowey bounced in place, "You didn't really come clean about this upfront, so I had to use my sneaky wiles. I know all about these human items. Sorta. You are looking for the hole beside this one."

"Fine, fine, so... I have walked through here before." Frisk made her way through the vent which led her back up to the upper level.

"Well, I guess my real question is... how come I don't remember you from, uh, your first fall here?" Flowey rubbed the bottom of his face with his leaf. His head didn't have a chin unless he was showing his real face. "I mean, I've remembered the past, what... two resets? Also what is with the flowers growing when you die and reset?"

Frisk considered his questions, and he sure asked a lot of them. She walked over to Flowey and picked him up. He pointed to the part of the ground he referred to previously. In response, Frisk turned her back as she made her way to it. She stood before the crumbling earth. "In reverse order, um, the growing flowers when I die thing... you know about as much about it as I do. Next, in this run, I've had two deaths, so two resets." Frisk intentionally left out telling Flowey she was unable to actually reset without dying.

"Frisk, you still didn't answer my big question," Flowey smiled. He was a little shit, but Frisk found it more endearing than his previous incarnation. "How come I don't remember you from before recently? Up until now I... well, I was in control, but now... I can't save or reset."

"Honestly? I don't really understand that myself," Frisk admitted. The previous Flowey had always rambled on about controlling the timeline. Frisk wondered why they didn't share control. Could it be because she had a human SOUL? Probably. Frisk thought for a moment. Did she really need to hide that much information from this Flowey? He was not cruel like the one she knew so well. She took a deep breath and explained, "Well, about not remembering me... I am not sure what happened, but, there is like a big reset. I don't know if you know about it, but it's a reset that takes you all the way to the beginning of a run. It only appears..." Frisk wasn't sure what to tell him. Would he even understand? "Whenever I would reach a final point... I couldn't save or reset... until the button showed up for me. It would take me all the way back to the start... to the beginning of the ruins. But... this time around is different. Everyone is different."

Flowey considered her words. "That 'big reset' thing sounds a little familiar. I can't explain it, but I think I know what you mean. Sometimes I would end up back at the lab... I don't really understand what you mean about this time being different though."

"...In a lab?" Flowey would hear a question, but Frisk wasn't asking anything. The mention of the lab reminded her of one of her biggest blunders. She knew he was created in a lab. The true lab was pivotal in achieving the route to the surface. When she reset back to the beginning as an adult after the incident, Frisk had completely forgotten about going back for a letter that would ultimately unlock access to the true lab. Guilt started to weigh on her heart as she recalled the feeling of being in the abyss after a pacifist run that did not yield the sun for the monsters.

"Yeah, I'm basically a freak," Flowey spoke up with faux pride. Frisk could hear a tinge of shame. "There is only one like me in this world."

"You aren't a freak," Frisk held the flower pot a little tighter. She stepped on the weak spot on the ground and fell through, landing on another flower bed. "You went through some horrible things..."

"How do you mean?" Flowey pulled his head away from her.

"I'm going to be super honest with you here," Frisk looked down at him, " **Asriel Dreemurr.** " It had been so long since she said his name out loud. She always thought it was a pretty cool name. Very heavy metal.

"A-A-Asriel Dreemurr?" Unaware of it, Flowey's face slowly morphed and looked more like his real face. He seemed to start sweating. "Wh-who's that?"

"You. You are Asriel Dreemurr," Frisk smiled. It felt right to show off her knowledge of things no one should know about on their first trip. "You are Asriel Dreemurr, son of Toriel and Asgore Dreemurr. Brother of Chara Dreemurr. Crowned prince of the underground, er before this time around. You died, uh, a long, long time ago probably, but came back to life technically recently?" Frisk started to casually rattle off the bits and pieces she understood about Flowey's past. "You had the power to reset and save, and at some point you abused it. You couldn't feel love or anything, and then you went around killing people. Then I showed up, and you couldn't do that anymore. Um, some of this might not apply to you though."

Flowey's face was blank. His expression did not betray his feelings. He seemed to be carefully choosing his next words. Frisk was patient. She looked over to the ground beside them as she waited. There it was, the red ribbon. She stood and picked up the fabric, holding Flowey in her left arm.

"Well, you are eerily close to the truth," Flowey gave her a cautious smile. "I am Asriel Dreemurr, Tori and Gori are my parents. This explains the questions you were asking at dinner about what my parents did and whatever... Heck, I almost did go... go bad... but, Frisk," Flowey frowned. "Chara is not my brother. He... that topic is off limits, okay? And don't call me Asriel, okay?"

Frisk nodded in response.

"Besides... It sounds like..." Flowey took a deep breath. "You are from some other dimension or something. I mean, my dad as a king? That's funny." Flowey rolled his eyes.

"Well, he really was. He even, well, he tried to kill me before."

"Wow, so that was the second time my dad's ever tried to kill you?"

"Well, more than twice... a lot of times, actually." Frisk pocketed the ribbon with a sigh. "King Asgore was really freaking hard to deal with, but... He always made the best tea."

Flowey's brow arched. "My dad would fight you, then make you tea?"

"Oh, I mean, after the whole underground thing. He'd always make me some tea when I came to visit his home."

"Oh, okay," Flowey nodded understandably but stopped short. "Wait. What do you mean 'after the whole underground thing'?"

With the ribbon in her pocket, Frisk set off toward Home. She took a short detour to the room where the spider bake sale was, explaining to Flowey how she had rescued everyone in the underground from none other than Asriel Dreemurr. Flowey listened in awe and silence. His bewildered expression held no contempt, just confusion. "Wow. Just wow... So even with the perfect, happy ending, you just... reset everything anyway?"

"Not exactly..." Frisk stopped in her tracks in the room where she had fought the Asgore of this timeline. "It wasn't like I saved everybody and was like, 'Ok, let me go back and do this all over again.' I was like... a kid when we left. Well, a teenager. Anyway, that's not important." She looked down at Flowey who met her gaze. "Something bad happened, really bad, and... I had to."

"Like what? Did somebody bite the dust?" Flowey mused. He coughed when he noticed Frisk's expression darkening. "Woah, I didn't know. I'm sorry. That wasn't funny."

"Somebody died, because of me," Frisk stated plainly. She felt awful, but she didn't want Flowey to feel sorry for her. "So I had to go back... but the button wasn't there. I felt like I was losing it, like, I had no control over my life. It made Toriel really worry about me. It made everyone worry about me... but then, I saw it."

"The big reset, huh?"

"Yeah, it had been years since I was last able to reach out and control time. I didn't even hesitate to do it, either. I just took a deep breath and pushed the button."

Flowey nodded along, "So that is how you ended up here, huh? You touched the big button to save a friend, and you ended up here."

"Hmm... yeah," Frisk lied. She couldn't bear to tell him about what really transpired. "Now I'm here, and I don't know if I will ever-" Suddenly she felt her heart throbbing in her throat. Its beat made her tear ducts start and the words stop.

"U-Uh, what's wrong? A-are... Are you worried you won't find your friend here?" Flowey asked. All Frisk could do was shake her head. She crumbled to the ground, grasping Flowey's flower pot. She had been keeping her secret fear locked up since she realized she had fallen into another timeline, another universe entirely. It made her feel immobilized and trapped in a cycle doomed to repeat. Flowey didn't understand what had come over his new friend, but his expression softened into Asriel's face. Limited as it was, he hugged her on the crown of her head, patting her hair with his leaves. "It's okay, Frisk. I'm here for you. I'm sure we will find your friend... I'm just sure-" His petal stroked against one of the flowers that grew from Frisk's head. He reeled back from her. "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?"

"W-what?" Frisk was so startled by his shout and accusation she dropped his flower pot and nearly fell backward.

"Y-You... I could like... see through your eyes this moment... where you hugged me." Frisk blinked at him. "Like, the other me. I... I touched a flower on your head and it showed me you hugging Asriel. He just got done apologizing for, I don't know, something, and then you hugged him. It was kind of sad. W-Wait, I bet..."

Frisk wanted to know if Flowey saw more, but didn't want to tip her hand. She didn't want to talk about the times she had murdered all her friends. "You bet what?"

"Frisk... Tori totally touched your head last time. I wonder if maybe... Your flowers 'echo,'" he used his leaf arms for emphasis, "your past memories. I mean, you did hug Asriel, right?"

"I did. I guess... I guess that makes sense?" Frisk was incredibly confused. She touched her own flowers, but nothing happened. "I'm not getting anything."

"Maybe it's only other people? Um, would you mind if I touched your flowers again?" The center of Flowey's face turned purple, "I-I, I just want to confirm the memory thing." Frisk looked at the ground and wondered, then nodded. Flowey reached up and touched a petal. He reeled back again. "OH. That explains your confused expression from earlier..."

"What did you see?" Frisk asked.

"It was like the time I tried to teach you how to fight, except... I was yellow... and like... super mean. I even did this creepy face!" Flowey's face morphed to look as creepy as Frisk recalled.

"Okay... touch my flowers again," Frisk nodded. "I have my own suspicion." Flowey obliged and only touched Frisk for a nano second before screaming bloody murder. The monsters that had been watching on the sidelines, but unable to overhear the conversation all skedaddled. "You saw it, didn't you?"

"I SAW... I don't even know what I saw to be honest! It was like a giant, thorny, TV guy!?" Flowey gestured with his leaves. "It was too scary, so I didn't get a good look."

"That was totally you, Flowey," Frisk laughed. "Well, I guess the other version of you. My version of you?"

"You can't be serious." Flowey rolled his eyes. "Me? A giant TV? That's just really weird and creepy."

"To be fair," Frisk picked up Flowey's flower pot and stood up slowly. "Other Flowey was way creepy. And weird."

"I haven't met him, but I'll take your word on it," Flowey shrugged. "Anyway, how did you know what I would see?"

"I was thinking about it... It makes sense... Tori touched my flower when I was- when I was thinking about something very sad. I guess it made her panic."

"Oh! Well... at least we know to avoid that this time around!" Flowey offered cheerfully.

"Yeah, that's for sure..."

Frisk stepped into the spider bake sale room. Or rather, where it should have been. Instead, there was a crate labeled 'SUPPLIES.' Inside there was baby food, diapers, and... king sized candy bars! Frisk took one and stuffed it into her pocket. Flowey seemed to cluck at her, but he also took a candy bar and hid it somewhere inside his flower pot. In the corner furthermost from the door but near the crate, Frisk spotted a camera. It looked a lot like Alphys' cameras, but she usually hid hers pretty well. She looked up at it with a frown. A red light blinked on and off near the middle of it. That meant someone was watching, probably.

"What is this room about? Why is there baby food and a camera in here?" Frisk continued to look into the camera lens, wondering what mad scientist this world had in store for her.

"That is kind of top secret, sorry," Flowey offered a smile instead of answers. "I can't tell you, but this is a supply drop of stuff we can't really get here by ourselves. Of course, I don't know why he brought baby food so early, this is just going to go bad." He made a disgusted face as he thought of the rotting baby food. "That camera is new, but I am just going to assume they installed it... probably?"

"Wait, wait... someone from outside the ruins comes here and drops this off?"

"Well, okay... they don't use any doors or anything to do it. They just kinda... are able to get around some things. Kinda like me."

Frisk had a sneaky suspicion she knew who this was, but she wasn't quite sure. Flowey didn't volunteer any more information and already called the origins of the crate top secret, so she just dropped it.

Finally on her trip of detours to the Tori confrontation, Frisk headed into the room that usually held the toy knife. Inside, the view was largely the same, mostly empty homes and streets. Frisk picked up the toy knife from the ground. She studied its blade with her finger tip. Not sharp at all, just a plastic toy. Still, a point was a point, and this toy knife could do serious damage. In fact, it had in her timeline.

"You aren't thinking of using that are you?" Flowey asked from his flower pot.

"No, not really... I guess I just wanted to have it anyway... once I leave, they probably won't let me back in."

"Probably," Flowey half-heartedly confirmed. "They won't let me back in either."

"Yeah, but you can come and go from here whenever you want," Frisk rolled her eyes.

Flowey shrugged, "I won't abandon you on this journey... I mean, granted you don't go around killing a bunch of people."

"Duly noted."

The warmth of the save point filled Frisk with the determination she needed to get through this challenge. Walking into the quaint house, Frisk once again smelled the sweet scent of pie. Again, she walked into the dining/living room with Flowey in tow and overheard a hushed argument between the goats. Frisk appeared in the kitchen doorway. Asgore and Tori looked over to the human. "I must attend to the flowers outside..." Asgore quickly withdrew himself from the conversation and exited, again. Tori simply shook her head, again.

Tori, Flowey, and Frisk found themselves in the living room again, with pie slices and cups of tea. Frisk paid closer attention this time to Tori. Luckily, Tori didn't seem to note Frisk's close study. Instead, she went to take a sip of her tea but stopped herself. "Oh, my dear! I need to cool your tea for you!" The goat woman tapped a finger on Frisk's tea cup. The human side glanced at Tori as she took a sip. The tea didn't burn her mouth this time. Instead, it was pleasantly hot, but not scalding. Tori smiled and proceeded to drink from her cup as well.

The tea cup moment changed, and it unnerved Frisk. Sometimes Toriel had shown signs of remembering previous timelines, such as when she'd remembered Frisk's choice of flavor. Some things like that always creeped Frisk out, though she had to admit it was creepier for her to keep coming back from death.

The conversation played out mostly the same. Frisk explained to Tori that she had fallen down. However, when Toriel offered that Frisk could find happiness with the Dreemurr family, Frisk took a deep breath, and voiced her real thoughts. "I really appreciate all that you and Asgore have done for me... I really do! But-" Frisk looked down at her cup of tea, unable to meet Tori's harshening stare. "But I have something I need to do. I can't stay here."

Tori had gripped her tea cup tightly as she heard Frisk speak her mind. The goat woman closed her eyes, concentrating on the words, their meaning, and thought about what had to be done. Frisk looked up at Tori. The goat woman loosened her grip on the cup and set it aside. "There is something I must do. Wait here." The sorceress stood from her seated position and exited. Frisk could hear her walking downstairs.

Frisk picked up Flowey and followed close behind.

"Going home is improbable. Going back to the surface... is futile." Tori spoke as Frisk followed her down the hallway. It was a speech reminiscent of what Frisk had expected of her. "At the end of this tunnel lies the exit of the ruins, the place where I sought refuge with my husband. It is a one-way exit to the rest of the underground." Tori stopped, and Frisk copied her. Tori turned to face Frisk, "I am going to destroy it. Not you, not any other human, will be able to leave again. Go upstairs and allow me to protect you and everyone else." The goat woman quickly turned and continued onward.

Frisk frowned. It was always this way with Toriel. No matter what Frisk said or did, Toriel would not bargain with the human. There were times, later on, when the constant fight with Toriel had angered Frisk and caused her to make actions she would regret and dream about in the following years above ground. Frisk pursued the monster.

"I have seen countless faces over the past millennia. There was peace once, but that peace has been broken. Now, any humans who fall... who leave the ruins... They die. But it isn't just them. It is never just **them** who suffer. Foolish human... don't you understand?" Tori looked over her shoulder as they walked down the corridor. "If you leave... the **Queen** will kill you. For the good of all the souls trapped down here, go to your room."

At the end of the long hallway, before the large chamber that held the exit doors, Tori stopped again. Her voice stern, yet it had a sad emotion underlining it, "This is your final warning. Please do not do something we will both regret."

Frisk defied Tori's orders, and followed her into the room with the gateway to the rest of the underground. Tori turned around and stood tall, her gloved paws at her sides. "I have no choice, then. No human has ever made it past me when I was the captain of the royal guard. Steel yourself!"

In a flash, Frisk's SOUL materialized. Tori stood blocking the path outside. The goat monster made a similar gesture as she had with their previous fight, and summoned both her big brimmed hat and staff, but this time, it wasn't quite as flashy. Her cute, pink boots stayed grounded. Tori did not avert her gaze from Frisk, opting instead to look straight through her, which chilled Frisk to the core. It made Frisk wonder what it must have been like to have a kingdom guarded by this version of Tori.

Frisk tied the red ribbon to her hair, Tori tilted her head, amused by the gesture. "You will not retreat? Sew be it." Tori pointed her staff to the ceiling, causing a micro hail to break free inside the room. It spiraled crystalline shards throughout the room. The human was prepared for that attack, and she dodged. Tori's attack did not have the ferocity it had before, nor did she go into the big soliloquy she had previously. Frisk smiled, the last battle had been triggered by the echo flower on the human's head.

"I don't want to fight you, Tori," Frisk opted Mercy over any thing else. She was curious if the solution to this fight was the same as Toriel. As Frisk spoke, she felt herself breathe a bit easier. Tori answered by creating the snowy double helix in the center of the room, snowflakes sprung from it in a pattern as it spun. Again, Frisk's SOUL bounced around as she tried her best to move out of the way of the magical attack. Flowey grimaced as the twirling ended.

"Put me down! Put me down! You are the worst fighter in the history of the underground!" He sounded on the verge of throwing up. Frisk put him down on the ground behind her when Tori's attack ended.

"Sorry, Flowey," the combatants said in unison.

"You both better be sorry! This is a really silly fight! There is literally no point to this at all!" Flowey's gaze was fiery and intense. He grew his stem long enough to be at their head level. "First off, Tori, what is the point in doing all this? I get it, you don't want Frisk to get hurt. I also get it, you worry about having more problems, about Frisk potentially making the anti-human fervor worse. Well... GET OVER IT!" He jabbed his leaf at his mother accusingly. "And you!" Flowey pointed at Frisk. "Why are you moving your body through all these attacks? Your SOUL and your body don't have to move at the same time, DUH. Tori is probably right, you are going to get completely wrecked if you let both your body AND your SOUL take damage."

"Oh, my dear, he doesn't mean that. That... It is quite hard for a human to manipulate their SOUL apart from their body..." Tori put her hands on her hips and frowned at the flower. "Yes, I worry about Frisk. I worry about what the Queen will do when she finds out another human has fallen. I know the exiled king managed to get to the last one first, but... it is just so risky." Tori shook her head. "And yes, I worry about Frisk hurting another... in self-defense. Yet, it would matter not the reason, because **she** will still paint it in the most negative light... In any case, do not speak to me in that tone, young man."

Flowey recoiled from Tori's motherly lecture. He was her child after all. Frisk could even feel herself feel a guilt by proxy. Flowey shook his head after a second, and seemed determined to speak his mind. "In any case, Tori... I have a really easy way to fix this!" Flowey looked over at Frisk. "Frisk, think about the time when you made the underground go free. Tori," Flowey looked back over to the goat monster, "please touch one of the flowers on Frisk's head."

"I don't know about this, Flowey," Frisk crossed her arms. "What if you know what happens?"

"Relax, it will be fine!" Flowey smiled.

"This is an odd request, and I don't quite understand what you are asking of Frisk..." Tori walked over, her staff disappearing, though her hat remained. Frisk's SOUL returned to her body. "If you think it will help resolve this conflict, I will do it. If it is okay with Frisk, of course."

Frisk tensed, but nodded. "Give me a second," She closed her eyes and tried to remember. She thought about how she felt the day her friends met the sun. When they were so excited, one of them had run off to make a good impression on the humans and everyone followed him. She remembered when Toriel asked if Frisk would like to stay with her. That memory in particular made Frisk's heart feel giant in her ribcage. "Okay, you can touch the flowers now." Frisk heard Tori mess with something in her paws, then felt the monster's hand on her head. It stuck around there for a moment.

Toriel pulled her paw away from the young human's head. Frisk had been laying in her bed for days, her eyes red and sore. She had the sheets pulled up to her shoulders, and her pillow was moist with fresh tears. The goat woman had just finished massaging her daughter's head, running her furry fingers through the girl's hair. Frisk felt soothed, if only for a moment. It was one of Toriel's biggest strengths.

The monster had not fared very well either. Any fuzzy monster could tell that the fur around her eyes were a bit sticky and moist, and any person could tell you her eyes were red from her own crying. Yet she felt she needed to be strong for Frisk. "My child, I know this is a difficult time... we will overcome this grief. I know it is hard, but... you must get up and come with me. We must give... we must give him a proper goodbye." Toriel struggled still to say the fallen monster's name.

"I k-know," As Frisk spoke, the words choked on their way out. She struggled to breathe through her mouth, her voice raspy from her crying. Frisk forced herself to lean up, her weight on an elbow. "It-It's just h-hard. I-I'm sorry."

"My love," Toriel wrapped her arms around Frisk and pulled her into a deep embrace. "My sweet child, it is not your fault. This is not your fault." Though she tried, Toriel could not help but shed a few extra tears. "Your friend. He would not want to see you in this state. He would not want you to cry for him so. It is hard, but we must say goodbye to him."

Frisk only nodded but cried heavily into her mother's arms. She couldn't handle thinking of saying goodbye to her dear friend. There wasn't even a complete body to look at. Monsters turned to dust, after all.

Tori pulled away as Frisk opened her eyes. "I'm sorry-"

"No," Tori interrupted Frisk. Tori's ungloved paws found Frisk's hands. "It seems to me you have apologized for enough." Tori's grip tightened protectively. "I do not understand what I saw. It seemed like a vision of the future. An older me, perhaps? A different me? These are concepts that... that one of my former lieges had mused about. However, in any case, it seems that the flowers on your crown were not merely cute accessories. No," Tori sighed, "I seem to recall a spell like this. But it makes no sense... that is forbidden magic. Of the highest caliber." Tori looked aside in thought for a moment before continuing. "I believe these memories of yours. So my people had reached the surface... elsewhere in time." Tori smiled brightly, the corners of her eyes wet. "Praise the stars, my dear. Maybe you are meant to save us too. I thank you, for the both of us."

"Oh, thanking people for me, Tori?" Asgore appeared from behind Frisk. Flowey sprouted up on the ground next to him. "Flowey said that you gave Frisk your blessing to leave and that you asked I come down to give a proper farewell."

"Flowey!" Tori shot him a warning glare.

"W-What?" Flowey looked aside with a snide look. "You saw it for yourself... Frisk can totally set us free. Isn't that right, Frisk?"

"Oh? What is this? You mean... we could return to the surface?" Asgore walked over to stand near his wife. His expression almost had stars he was so happy.

"I believe so, my love," Tori nodded. "I saw it in a vision."

"Ah... your visions are usually only 33% correct-" Asgore shut up after Tori shot him a warning glare as well. Flowey laughed, followed by the rest of the goat family.

Frisk stood there silent, her hands still in Tori's paws. She used the family's happy antics to give herself a moment.

"Yes, I think I can find a way to break the barrier... Flowey is actually pretty key to that," Frisk said finally.

"Interesting, I do not recall him in that memory," Tori pulled her hands away to wipe a cheerful tear. "But I do trust you. Before you leave, let us give you some supplies. It is the least we can do."

Tori and Asgore gave Frisk and Flowey a small bag of coins. Frisk tried to politely reject the offer, but Tori insisted. They had no need for money in the ruins, and no plans to come out until the barrier was opened. They also handed Frisk a small backpack with a few treats and tea bags.

"Those are my own blend of tea leaves," Asgore explained as Frisk looked through the contents. "Flowey told me you enjoyed tea, so I hope the tea will remind you of Home as you make your journey."

"Thanks, Asgore," Frisk gave him a big smile. "I know I will think of you."

"I am so sorry we cannot come with you, my dear," Tori blushed somewhat as she looked at the ground. "I cannot really travel... You see... I..."

"You have a baby on the way, don't you?" Frisk stated. It was not a real guess since Tori had said as much in the previous, serious fight.

"O-Oh! I did not think I was showing..." The goat woman giggled, putting a paw over her mouth.

Frisk looked up at the ceiling with a grin. "I actually just noticed that crate full of baby food. It was an educated guess!"

"Ah! Yes!" Tori clapped her hands together. "I nearly forgot to inform you, my dear. When you leave, you must seek help from a certain person. As a human, monsters will attack you in the rest of the underground."

"They were attacking me here too," Frisk scratched her head. "I think I will be okay though."

"No, Frisk," Flowey jumped into the conversation, his flower pot held by Frisk again. "It's something else entirely. It's hard to explain..."

"Flowey is right," Asgore nodded grimly. "The monsters in the rest of the underground are determined to kill a human. I have heard rumors that the Queen has become desperate."

"You must find the exiled king, Frisk," Tori looked Frisk in the eyes, the goat woman's red eyes unyielding. "You must find King Papyrus."

The group shared hugs goodbye. Tori planted kisses on the cheeks of Frisk and even Flowey, who did not recoil from her touch. They shared promises to stay safe. As Frisk pushed past the double doors, she spent a couple seconds looking at the delta rune on the door, it split as she pushed the door open, but it was nested inside a circle with four strange symbols. Frisk committed them to memory. The human and flower left the ruins as Tori and Asgore waved them out.


	5. Stay awhile and listen: The Ruins

Greetings, I am Ru. I am the teller of this story. Won't you stay awhile and listen?

That last chapter marked the end of the ruins arc. For better or for worse, there is no going back now.

I think you may be curious, dear reader, about some of the things transpiring in this story.

Perhaps you are confused or have questions burning a hole in your SOUL.

Look no further! I am here to help you.

 **What would you like to know about?**

 **Who would you like to hear about?**

Ask in the comments below, and more than likely, your question will be answered.

Though, of course, I will need to make a connection with the intended recipient of your question.

Please start any questions with the characters name and the question you would like to ask. Like so: "Flowey: Why are you so weird?"

Expect this page to update, come back and see.

 **Table of Contents**

To find a particular section, press CTRL + F, and enter in the following:

~Tori~ for more about Toriel Dreemurr

~Asgore~ for more about Asgore Dreemurr

~Flowey~ for more about Flowey

~Short Stories~ for any short stories related to the ruins arc

~Asks~ for any Q&A the characters may have. Your username will be included in the Ask, so you may search for your username as well.

 **~Tori~**

Toriel Dreemurr is the former captain of the royal guard. Through a series of events, Tori found herself using the ruins as a refuge from the rest of the underground. She has mastery over many different kinds of magic, including ones that may not appear in this story. Her magical prowess helped her become the captain in the first place, and her absence has possibly left a hole in the guard. Despite the difficulty after their son's death, Tori and Asgore found comfort in each other, and they ultimately fled to the ruins together. They have another child on the way, though they have arguments over what they should name them.

Physically, Toriel stands shorter than her original counterpart and is the height of an average human female. She and Frisk stand nearly head to head. Despite being outcasted by her fellow monsters, Tori still feels a sense of duty to her former position and contains to wear the regalia she did as a royal guardsperson. Her color motifs are the range of colors between purple and pink, though she is unable to wield magic of either of those colors.

 **~Asgore~**

Asgore Dreemurr used to work for the Queen as her royal gardener. His gentle touch and green thumb helped grow the magnificent gardens found throughout the underground, despite the lack of sun, though he always had a hard time getting anything to grow in Snowdin. Asgore, lovingly referred to as Gori by his family, does not enjoy physical combat, and actually had a position as a frontline healer back in the days of war. He reluctantly fights any when it is required of him, though it is quite easy to convince him to end his attack. He is a big, fluffy pushover, despite what his stature looks like.

The goat monster towers Toriel, and is near his full height. He is not quite as bulky around his arms as he has let the last millennia go in terms of physical training. Asgore does not wear any regalia relating to his position and opts instead to dress more casually. His old uniform was a white hooded robe with purple triangles lining the hems, which may remind some of classic roleplaying games.

 **~Flowey~**

Flowey, aka Asriel Dreemurr, was born from an experiment in a lab out in Hotland. Much like the Flowey of the original timeline, this Flowey can go almost anywhere he pleases, was able to save, load, and reset, and may have done some terrible things. However, for reasons currently obscured, he seems able to maintain his humanity and ability to love others. Unlike the Flowey of the other timeline, this Flowey was born inside an echo flower as opposed to a buttercup blossom. It would also seem that Chara is not his brother, and currently that topic is sore to him.

 **~Short Stories~**

 _My dear... (updated 7/28/2017)_

It had been a while since the human and flower left them. Tori made a trek to the echo flowers at the far end of the cavern with a watering pail in hand. Though Asgore was the gardener in the family, Tori enjoyed doing the chores time to time. With a child on the way, she wanted to enjoy the peace and feeling of getting things done while she could. When she arrived, she realized then how much she missed Flowey's company.

It was so odd meeting a talking flower that didn't just echo back your greeting. Tori remembered her first meeting with Flowey. He suddenly appeared as a fully formed flower in the garden Asgore began. The dirt everywhere else would not take the seeds he planted, but this end of the Ruins did. After their daring escape from the angry mob of monsters, Tori and Asgore barely managed to take anything with them from their home at the castle. Asgore had forgotten entirely to bring anything objectively useful, and instead grabbed a glass encased flower vase that carried a few of the echo flowers that their son's dust had fallen onto after the battle in Waterfall.

Echo flowers seemed only to want to bloom in that part of the caverns, though Asgore found a way to keep the memento of his son alive through his healing powers. They needed to be preserved, and the echo of the flowers had become unintelligible over time, so the soundproof glass case made sense in several respects. It also made it, however, cumbersome to carry away while being chased. Once they were secure inside the ruins, Asgore made a project of trying to start an echo flower garden in memory of their son.

It fit for Asriel, Tori thought. After all, it was his favorite flower. How he and the other child played with them. Leaving each other little jokes or messages through the echo flowers. Tori's eyes watered when she spotted the fully grown flower. It seemed like a miracle. It was a day in which Tori went to water the patch instead of Asgore, as he had fallen somewhat ill. She sprinkled water onto the flower with the elephantish water pail.

Tori leaned down and whispered to the flower, "You are quite lovely."

Instead of an echo, it said, "Thank you."

It had frightened Tori at first, she jumped backward. She was curious. "Did you just say something?"

A face formed, at first Tori almost thought she saw her son's face. But the face was more straightforward. Just eyes and a mouth. The Flower looked unsure, scared, and possibly ashamed. "Y-Yes."

"My goodness! This is a surprise," Tori smiled at the flower. "My name is Tori, what is your name, my dear?"

"I'm... I'm Flowey," It replied back to her, seeming to be unsure of its name.

"Flowey... Flowey the Flower?" Tori giggled. "Pleased to meet you, Flowey. My... what will Gori think of a new friend with such a _pun_ ny name?"

Flowey was gone. Tori thought of her vision and felt her curiosity grow about Frisk. How would they break the barrier? What did Flowey have to do with such a thing? Tori worried about their safety. Her heart grew heavy from the shame she felt in not following those children out the door. She watered the flowers, and they whispered.

 _What are we going to do?_

 _What are we going to do about this?_

 _It feels like a betrayal..._

 _To Asriel?_

 _Yeah... like... like we are replacing him._

Tori smiled, with tears streaming down her face. She couldn't leave her son's ashes here with the flowers echoing such a sad story. So she shouted, "We will never replace you, Asriel. You will always be my son. You are my beautiful boy. I know you would have been a marvelous older brother. Full of courage, integrity, and kindness. We will always remember you in our hearts. I love you!"

With that, all the flowers echoed back to her, "I love you! I love you!"

 **~Asks~**

 _Ru asks, "Flowey, why are you so weird?"_

Flowey: H-Huh? I'm not weird. Do you want to know who is though? Gori. Yeah, his gardens are really cool and nifty... but I don't know why he got into doing them in the first place. He is completely allergic to flowers, and sometimes the care packages we get don't include his meds. That's why sometimes mom-er, Tori. That's why sometimes Tori has to go water the flowers for him.

Notes:

For any interested, I do have a Tumblr: official-bitterblossoms-au

Feel free to visit it anytime, ask me things on there directly, or send me funny posts.


	6. Snowdin Forest, in the flesh

Frisk walked with Flowey along the path to Snowdin Forest. She was lost in her thoughts. First, there was the issue of who the king was around here. How had that happened? It sounded like now he was not the king anymore... Frisk's head hurt just thinking about it, so she tabled the thought for another time. Second, Frisk's last couple of treks to the forest did not go well. Frisk wasn't sure at first, but it was definitely Sans who had killed her the first time. So far, both of her deaths were due to Sans. Then a realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She paused right before the door to Snowdin Forest, where Sans would be waiting. Frisk did not save at all. Sans had not hesitated to kill her before, so it was safe to assume he would kill her outright again. As soon as she reached the bridge, she would turn around and he'd hit her with an attack. How could he manage to do something like that? What about a FIGHT? Would she and Flowey have to replay the same conversation with Tori and Asgore? It had warmed her heart the first time, but each time Frisk revisited a scene, it lost its power.

"What's with that dumb look? We are on a journey to... to do something about this mess!" Flowey grew his stem to block Frisk's view. She stopped walking. "What could possibly be the matter?"

"Well... the last two times I reset was because of Snowdin Forest. A monster killed me, the same one, twice." Frisk grimaced. It was Sans, though he was too tall to really be Sans. Frisk outgrew the short monster quite quickly once she had reached her teenage years. It was strange to think he was about a head or so taller than her now. She wondered, for a moment, if Papyrus would end up being short? She snorted at the thought.

"So you think you might die, and then you giggle," Flowey rolled his eyes. "Look, I think I have a way to solve this problem. Are you worried about resetting and having to deal with my mom again? We can just redo all that talking... but I understand. It isn't really very fun to do the same thing over and over." Flowey seemed to bounce around in his flower pot as he thought. "I guess I could... I've been saving up, but I can put down a save point for you."

"Huh?" Frisk jumped at his suggestion. "What? You can do that!?"

"Uh, yeah," Flowey smirked. "Where do you think all those save points from earlier came from? The stars? No! It was yours truly."

Frisk had to admit she was impressed by this. So that's where save points came from! Maybe that's why they were blue now instead of the familiar yellow? She gave him a defeated smile. "Ok, ok. So, you really will make one?"

"Yup! Leave it to me."

Outside the door, Frisk crouched onto the ground and put Flowey's flower pot down. Flowey seemed to jump into the snowy ground in one swift motion. She saw his head pop up from the hole he made. He seemed to concentrate fairly hard as he closed his eyes tightly. Frisk could sense heat rising into the air as he glowed a deep shade of blue. Afterwards, Flowey hopped back into the flower pot leaving behind a shiny, new save point. Frisk reached out to it and saved. Nothing felt different about using this versus the others.

"What's that face for?" Flowey gave her a sidelong glance.

"Huh?"

"You are making a face, what?" Flowey raised a brow. "Like you just ate a tasty slice of pie, or something."

"Huh, oh, uh," Frisk scratched her cheek. "I guess I just think... it's kind of amazing. I had run through the other Underground so many times... I never really just stopped and thought: Where did these shiny thingies come from?"

"Heh, heh," Flowey then clucked at her with his tongue, "You sweet, summer child. Just runnin' around and never thought about what's really going on."

"Oh hush," the human rolled her eyes as she lifted Flowey up and stood. "I have sometimes thought about it, you know... after we got out. It never really made a lot of sense, you know."

Flowey was about to say something when the world flashes white several times. Each time, Frisk's head hurt more and more. She brought a hand to her forehead, but each white flash seemed to reset her arm position. She felt like she could never reach her head. Finally, after some odd times, the flashing ceased. Flowey looked disturbed, "F-Frisk, y-you!"

The human's hand finally reached her head and felt a flower crown. There were no longer just a duo of posies, but instead at least a dozen flowers poking out from her skin and hair. Flowey frowned, "W-Why did you reset like that?"

"That wasn't me!" Frisk turned around quickly, expecting to see him. The Sans of this world. The one who killed her twice already, and possibly another twelve.

But there was no one behind her.

Frisk's entire body tensed. How could she have died so many times so quickly? He was incredibly powerful, yes... but not that powerful. Something wasn't right... Frisk had nothing else she could do except move forward. She walked along the familiar path. In fact, its familiarity felt eerie to her as she walked. The ruins were different enough, but it seemed like there was nothing off about Snowdin Forest so far aside from the murderous skeleton. Perhaps that was a difference enough.

Frisk whispered to Flowey, "What do you know about the skeleton here?"

"Skeleton? Is that who got you so many times?" Flowey remarked quietly.

"So you don't know him?" Frisk sighed.

"I only know about a few, and none of them would attack you like this..." Flowey said, his tone droll. They passed the stick, but it didn't shatter. Oddly enough, this unnerved Frisk more than if it would have gone ahead and broken. Flowey added, helpfully, "The king is a skeleton! Although, I think you knew that. Probably."

They reached the bridge that leads to the rest of Snowdin Forest. Frisk noticed this bridge still looked pretty shabby; more or less identical to the bridge Papyrus had created in her home timeline. She paused out of habit. "What are you doing!?" Flowey complained, but it was too late. A voice called out from behind them.

"heh. heh. hello, little lady," the voice spoke casually, as if they were all good, old friends. Ironically, Frisk felt it was true even if this wasn't her Sans. "you are a human, right? that's hilarious." Frisk turned to look down at him only to be reminded of his new height. She looked up instead. He was dressed like a grim reaper of sorts, though his robes were gray with navy motifs. Upon closer inspection, he was really just wearing a large hoodie and dark slacks with the delta rune emblem as opposed to a zipper. His face was completely obscured by the hood of said hoodie. She could see his white pinpricks within, glowing. "heh, you checking me out? i'm flattered." The grim-looking monster looked at the flower pot. "well i'll be... if it isn't my favorite little _bud_ dy. heh heh heh."

Flowey held completely still. Frisk couldn't see his face, but the flower's voice betrayed him, "You-you're not supposed to be here."

"yet here i am," The dark figure held his hands up and gestured to his chest with both. "in the flesh so to say, heh heh..."

"I guess some things never change," Frisk couldn't help but sigh. The hooded one tilted his head slightly.

"hmm? what do you mean by that, little lady? by the way," It seemed Sans was inspecting Frisk's face. "blue is a nice color on you." He gestured at the flowers on her head.

Frisk shuddered at the 'compliment.' Did he know about the curse? She took a deep breath. Things could be quite easy if she was just upfront with people. Especially Sans. With Sans most of all, in fact. Certainly, he would believe her. "I know who you are. We've met before."

"F-Frisk, don't-" Flowey began, but was interrupted.

"heh, let her _chloro_ -fill me in," The skeleton folded his arms. It seemed to Frisk that he winked at her as a single pinprick went out inside the hood. "what do you have to say for yourself, little lady."

"My name is Frisk, and I know this will sound crazy," Frisk felt her heart thud in her throat. Just talking to Sans so casually felt wrong. After what she did to him, after everything that happened, Frisk felt forgotten feelings resurface. "I'm from another timeline. I came back to right a horrible wrong, and-" Frisk looked away from him and at the ground. Tears started to swell in her eyes. "And I am sorry about everything, Sans. I never meant for this to happen-"

"what. did. you. say?" The voice was measured and calculated.

"S-Sorry, I'm just-" She looked back up, but Sans was towering over both Frisk and Flowey. The human could make out the lower half of his face in his proximity. The smile was there, but seemed to just be a plastered on feature rather than genuine. She couldn't make out pinpricks in the hood anymore.

"did you just say..." Frisk could hear the struggle in his voice. He next uttered words that were completely unintelligible to her. " ?"

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that-" Frisk felt her face flush from embarrassment. She didn't know what he said, but more importantly, he drew away from her with a troubled groan. The human was about to say something more, but then he began to laugh.

"heh... heh heh... heh heh heh!" The tall monster laughed, each laugh growing louder and more hectic. "here i thought i finally found something interesting. well, well, that was a good laugh. i always enjoyed dark humor." He turned to face Frisk again suddenly, his hood falling to his shoulders revealing his skeletal head. He still had a round face and his smile was oddly real looking in that moment. Flowey shook in his flower pot at the sight.

"I'm sorry, Sans," Frisk replied softly. She truly meant it, though she felt her heartbreaking knowing that this was not the correct person to apologize to.

Suddenly, the skeleton flew into her face, his eye flashing yellow and blue. "you just said it again! what did you say!? say it again!"He grabbed her by the shoulders, gripping her tightly. The bone of his fingers dug into Frisk's skin, hurting her. She couldn't help but screech.

"Frisk!" Flowey fell to the ground, his flower pot shattering as it hit the snowy ground.

"Flowey!" Frisk winced at the pain and tried to look at her fallen friend, but Sans freed his other hand and grabbed her chin. He directed her attention at his face. "What! What do you want me to say? Sorry again?"

"no. you said... you said," He looked incredibly pained. He looked like he did when Frisk killed him. " ."

Still she couldn't hear that word, yet she had a good guess as to what he was saying. "Sans?"

Frisk felt his grip on her lighten slightly. Sans' expression became wistful and lost. Almost like a memory had overtaken him when she said his name. He wasn't looking at her anymore as his sockets darkened. It seemed more and more like he was about to cry.

That was when his eyes flared into life, yellow pinpricks searching her face. Sans' grip became deathly tight, and Frisk felt every part of her ache with pain. Frisk felt her SOUL pull from her body, but she couldn't look away from Sans' face. "how? how? you are going to tell me everything!"

Sans grabbed Frisk's wrist and dragged her away from the bridge. In that effort, they teleported elsewhere, some secluded spot Frisk didn't recognize. "Stop! You're hurting me!" She shouted at him. To his credit, he let go of her, but Frisk stayed on her guard. She wasn't about to let herself get duped by this guy. "What are you doing... what do you want from me?"

He kept his back turned to her. Frisk wasn't sure if this was an odd sign of trust, confidence in his own abilities, or all of the above. Sans spoke like they were two friends meeting again after a long time, "so, little lady, you know me. you know my name... hell, you can even say it. that is a luxury i don't even have anymore." His put his hands into his hoodie pocket and slouched a little bit. "so... you are from another timeline? that isn't quite right, i bet."

"I-I guess," Frisk slowly started to back away. "I guess you could say I'm from another universe. One like this one, but... a few things are different." As her boot crunched in the ground for the third step, Sans suddenly flung his arm back at her, a few warning shots in the form of magical bones landed right behind her.

"heh. you and i are old friends, right? you and me were best buds in that other universe, right?" Sans turned to face her. His smile looked truly happy, and it disturbed her. She didn't like being near him at all. "why else would you apologize to scum like me? why else would you remember me."

"Look, I'm sorry," Frisk put her hands together and nervously rubbed her palms. "I just want to help everyone go free again."

"'go free'?" He gave her an incredulous look. "what? like... the surface?"

"Yeah," Frisk nodded eagerly. This is where the conversation needed to head. "You see, that's what I was trying to say before... last time we were all on the surface and then something happened-" Frisk searched Sans' face, but couldn't bear to vocalize her thoughts. "Something really bad."

"and?" Sans crossed his arms and waited.

"And I... Okay, this is nuts, but I sometimes can travel through time. Its oddly specific, but I... I went back to erase the bad thing and ended up here." Frisk partially lied. That wasn't true. She had her curiosity sated which culminated into a genocidal hate spiral, but otherwise she couldn't tell Sans that. This one seemed remarkably proactive.

"i don't know if i can believe you," Sans shook his head. "another universe i can buy, but why should i believe your story. you have any evidence? trusting you might prove... _frisk_ y. heh..."

"Okay... so the flowers on my head... just touch one, okay?" Frisk blushed a bit and felt stupid for it. "Give me a second to think-"

Before she knew it, Sans crossed the distance and reached out to her head. He put a bony finger on her head.

"AH! THE GREAT OUTDOORS!" A tall, jovial skeleton jogged ahead of an exhausted looking duo. "COME ON, FRISK! I EXPECT THIS FROM MY LAZY BONE OF A BROTHER, BUT NOT YOU! LET'S GO! ONE MORE TIME, WE SHALL SHOUT TO THE SUN ABOUT HOW GREAT WE ARE!" Off he went, shouting excitedly about his greatness.

He left behind Frisk and the shorter skeleton, Sans. Sans wore an ironic tee that simply read "pun" on dark blue cloth. Frisk wore athletic gear, but even she had trouble keeping up with Sans' brother, Papyrus. She wondered aloud where he could get all that energy from. Sans merely shrugs.

"I'm just... so glad we are up here," Frisk smiled down at Sans. It took so long, so many deaths, so much trial and error, but Frisk had done it. Monsters were free and able to journey to the surface.

"heh, it sure is a sunny place up here," Sans replied as he stopped walking. He huffed and heaved a bit. "don't mind me. heh. my lung capacity isn't what it used to be."

"You don't have a lung... do you?" Frisk raised a brow, which prompted another shrug. "Any exciting new material since coming up to the surface?"

"sure. why was the skeleton looking for new friends?" Sans offered.

"Because she was _bone_ ly perhaps?" Frisk laughed a bit at how lame that joke was. "Come on, Sans, the surface has been open for a few months now... nothing cool to say about it?"

"hmm... no." Sans looked away from her. "listen kiddo, let's talk about something else. like how cool papyrus looks when he threatens to fight the sun now if he won't let the moon rise soon enough. i don't think he understands the concept of longer days in the summer."

"Sans," Frisk puts a hand on Sans' shoulder. She hated all his deflections. He was always hiding something from her, and it was beginning to piss her off. "What is wrong? We are on the surface! After like a zillion years, everyone is finally-"

"free? free to come hang out sometimes up here as long as no 'normal' people see us?" Sans' sarcasm was thick. Sans looked up at Frisk, "uh, kiddo?"

Frisk was tearing up. It was true that things sucked, but a selfish part of her had hoped that Sans would be one of the people thanking her everyday for opening the surface up to the monsters. Everyone seemed to be having an alright time despite the slow changes happening. Wasn't that to be expected? Monsters suddenly showing up was bound to freak most people out, right? "But... things are different right? At least they are better, right?"

"i'm sorry, frisk. i am not mad at ya," Sans sighed. "nothing has really changed, kiddo. i still wake up in my same bed. i still see snow outside my window. papyrus wakes me up every sunday to greet the sunrise, and i wonder if he realizes how puntastic that is." Frisk nodded slowly, wiping away her tears. Sans looked away from her. "i guess i just wonder... if humans were able to put us down there in the first place... what is gonna stop them from doing it again."

Sans pulled his hand away with a yank. He looked at his hand and back at Frisk.

"I wasn't ready!" Frisk shouted. "I wanted to show you something better-"

"the surface really has no promise, huh?" Sans muttered to himself as he looked back down at the hand that touched her. "it was just like he said it would be. humans oppressing us... huh, you know," Sans looked to Frisk, his expression light and friendly. "you kind of remind me of him. maybe that's why... i won't feel bad about doing this."

"Doing wha-?" Frisk lost her voice as she was suddenly surrounded by strange looking blasters. The human looked from them to Sans. "Why...?"

"i'unno... maybe to make me feel better," Sans shrugged, one of his eyes glowing yellow. They all went off before Frisk could react, killing her instantly.

"This is bad." Flowey immediately said as Frisk reset, holding Flowey once more. "This is really, really, really bad."

"What's wrong with him?" Frisk looked down at him. "You said you didn't know him!"

"I've never seen him without his hood on, okay!? I had no idea he was one of the skeletons down in this star forsaken place!" Flowey shouted back at her. "Look! He's... he seems a little different... a little less unhinged."

"That's less unhinged?" Frisk's face faulted as she turned around. She half expected to see Sans just standing there casually, but instead she saw nothing of the sort. "This is awful. He can instantly kill me... that isn't even fair."

"Okay, so... that guy... the last time I saw him before I just started to hang out in the ruins with my parents, well... I saw him in the CORE area. He was always shouting things, but I didn't really ever understand a word he said. He would randomly kill me a bunch too!" Flowey rubbed his face with a leaf. "Ugh, he killed some random people in the CORE too. I reset a buncha times trying to save them all. It worked..." Flowey hesitated a bit. "For the most part, anyway. He seemed to REALLY hate my freaking guts though."

"This just doesn't make any sense. Why would Sans-"

"Huh?"

"Hmm.. Can you not hear this word: Sans." Frisk tested Flowey.

"Apparently not."

"Wow, that's... really confusing." Frisk tapped her foot for a moment, then it dawned on her. "Okay... I think this should still be true... in my universe that skeleton was related to Papyrus. Er, you know, the king of this place."

"What!?" Flowey's brow raised. "No, no, you must be joking. That's not very funny, Frisk!"

"Why the heck would I joke about this?" Frisk sighed. "Look, that's the truth okay. Do you want to touch a flower to see?"

"No, no, I believe you. Besides, I don't want to see that guy anymore..." Flowey grimaced as he realized that wish would probably not come true at all. "What are we going to do... you saved out here of all places."

"Only one way to go..." They both looked at the trail that led deeper into the forest. They sighed in unison, then Frisk began walking.

The two of them were silent as she moved. Frisk and Flowey were both mentally exhausted from dealing with Sans, so when the heavy branch snapped behind Frisk, her heart started to pound. She moved a little faster, and Flowey looked over Frisk's shoulder. He couldn't make out the figure following them at all. The flower started to tap Frisk's shoulder repeatedly and urgently.

"Frisk, Frisk, it's... it's got tentacles!" Flowey shouted as he shrunk back into his flower pot, when he said that, Frisk was frozen in place.

 _Tentacles, what the hell?_ She turned around at the bridge to see what the heck Flowey was talking about. Instead of tentacles, Frisk saw a small figure.

The small figure stood at Sans' height. The height Frisk was used to on the other Sans, but that was where the similarities ended. Whatever it was, it wore a white, bunny mask with long ears that pointed straight up. They wore a red hooded cape of some kind that managed to cover their entire body. The only sign Frisk could make out of what might be behind the mask was tufts of black hair that poked out from behind the mask. Before anyone could say anything, Frisk exclaimed at the top of her lungs:

"Who the **hell** are you?"


	7. Snowdin Forest, fellow apprentices

Author's Note: This story has some formatting that is lost on . This story is best read on AO3, but you should still be able to enjoy it here. :) Follow me on Tumblr!

"How curious..." The voice from behind the rabbit mask seemed feminine, but Frisk couldn't be certain. "Have you heard of me? It seems you may well have. I do not know you, however, stranger. My apologies."

"Ugh... it's you." Flowey rolled his eyes at the figure. "You scared us half to death, you dumb kid!"

"Hmm... I don't seem to recall you either, flower stranger." The red hooded person tilted their head and lifted a black, gloved hand to their mask. They touched a big X where lips would usually be. The mask reminded Frisk of someone with a perpetual sour face. "Also, I am not a 'dumb kid.' I am a 'dumb' teen..."

"Um, what is going on here? Who are you? Where's Sans- er, the skeleton?" Frisk asked, her voice drenched in confusion at this entire scenario. She felt incredibly alarmed. Even more alarmed than she felt when dealing with Sans a moment ago. Who was this person? Was it one of her other, former friends in some sort of disguise? This person... their white mask and this red robe...

"So... you don't know my identity?" The masked one asked.

"SIGH," Flowey said aloud rather than sighing. "Frisk, this is Hel. She is... just a weird person. It would be best to ignore her. Er... Frisk?" Flowey gave Frisk a solid poke with a leaf.

"Huh?" Frisk nearly dropped Flowey to the ground, but he saved himself by grabbing onto her with a 'hey!' She had been so transfixed on the Hel person's color scheme that she was almost completely lost in her own world. "Who are you, exactly?"

"I am Hel. Just Hel," she replied. "Who I exactly am does not concern you... or maybe it does, I am not quite sure."

"Oooo-kay," Frisk gave a nervous smile. Hel? She rattled the name around in her brain, but couldn't make any connections. "So, Hel, about my previous question-"

"Ah, yes, the skeleton. You are referring to master, I suppose," Hel tilted her head the other way and hummed. "You could tell he was a skeleton? Did you see his face?"

"Oh, um, yeah," Frisk nodded. "He has a big head." Flowey nearly chuckled at that line.

"Yeah, he has a HUUUGE head, that guy. I've never seen a head so big!" Flowey piled on. "Also, he sucks!"

"Hmm, the master does suck sometimes, yes," Hel nodded. "I find it quite interesting you were able to perceive his visage. Most cannot remember his features that well. This must mean... you must be my fellow apprentices!"

"Uhh, apprentices?" Flowey deadpanned.

"Yes," Hel walked past the two of them and took a step onto the bridge. "The fact that you have both seen the master and remember his features... you are certainly his apprentices. The same as I!"

"Just play along, for now, Frisk," Flowey muttered to her. "I've run into Hel a few times, and she is mostly harmless."

"Sure," Frisk whispered back to her flower friend. She called out to Hel, "Definitely. That is us... his other apprentices."

Hel stood with her back turned to the pair and hummed contemplatively for a moment. Then she turned and suddenly announced, "This makes me an elder apprentice! I have leveled up!" Frisk and Flowey exchanged looks like they already regretted their life choices. "What are your names, my fellow apprentices?"

"Frisk."

"Flowey."

"Frisk and Flowey!" Hel rubbed the bottom of her rabbit mask like it was her own chin. "Very well, you must be properly initiated." Hel dropped her hand and it disappeared into her red robes. "Frisk, you look very much like a human. It is quite uncanny."

"It sure is," Flowey blurted out with a laugh. "Frisk is all fleshy with hair mostly on her head, just like a human would be!"

"... hmm, that is an interesting take," Hel tilted her head. "I was referring to her appearance juxtaposed to those images found in the human histories. However..." Hel scurried up, bringing her mask right up to Frisk's face. Frisk could practically smell Hel's breakfast... which seemed to be very sugary smelling. "Your eyes, Frisk, aren't quite as large as a human. But... MK doesn't know that." Frisk couldn't see it, but she could hear a large smile in that last phrase.

Hel pulled back and nodded at Flowey and Frisk. "Let us proceed with the initiation. Follow me."

The trio walked over the bridge and reached Sans' sentry point. The sentry point was there and so was Sans! His head rested in his arms, his whole head obscured by his hood and fluffy looking sleeves. Frisk thought he looked incredibly comfortable and had a sudden urge to cuddle up with him.

"Behold, our infamous ice-human," Hel gestured at an ice sculpture that seemed to have taken the place of the convenient lamp. Frisk gasped for a moment, as it reminded her of this universe's Chara. Flowey, too, looked unsettled. "This is our reminder of what a human looks like... it has been a long time since one fell down, you see." Hel nodded along with her explanation. "Anyway, just stand behind it. Flowey... be a flower!"

Frisk obliged Hel's request, placing Flowey down on the ground next to Ice-Chara. Flowey pretended to be a normal flower. Hel clapped her hands together, exclaiming, "Perfect! It is amazing how easily you seem to be obscured behind this ice-human..." Hel sounded delighted and malicious all at once. "Now... I see my friend coming toward us. On cue, please step out from behind that ice-human."

Frisk could see through the convenient Ice-Chara well enough. She could see Monster Kid running up to greet Hel.

"Yo, duuuude!" MK shouted excitedly as they ran up to Hel. "Guess what! I totally snuck into the Grimly Ghoulies concert last night!"

"Truly?" Hel sounded incredibly amused. She must have one of the worst poker faces behind that mask. "Did you have a fantastic time?"

"I sure did! I managed to get so close up, dude," MK hopped up and down. They seemed like a soda pop ready to explode. "Raghast even LOOKED at me, dude! I think some of his spittle landed on my face! I haven't bathed at all yet!"

"Hmmm, I'm pretty sure that was probably motor oil," Hel giggled. "That explains that black splotch on your face..."

"Anyway, you called me last night and said you had a total premonition, right?" MK beamed at Hel. "Something really cool was gonna happen as long as I came here, to this spot, at the exact time... which is pretty soon, right dude?"

"Oh, yes," Hel nodded eagerly. "I had a dream that a prophecy would be realized soon and that it would all... begin... right... now!"

That was her cue, Frisk was certain of it. She stepped out from behind the Ice-Chara. Flowey regrew his face but otherwise didn't do anything.

"AHHH! A HUMAN!" MK shouted, then jumped in front of Hel. "D-Don't worry, dude! I-I'll protect you!"

"Oh my stars~!" Hel gave one of the fakest performances Frisk had ever seen. "Whatever shall we do~? A human has fallen at last, but at what cost~?"

"Dude, let's go and warn everyone!" MK looked over at the sleeping Sans and their face faulted. "Er, the boss is here! Whatever happens, he can handle it! Let's beat it!" With that, MK ran away.

Hel laughed and laughed. Something about the laugh sounded familiar, but Frisk couldn't quite place it. "Um... so, was that good?"

"Yes! You are officially an apprentice of the master of Snowdin," Hel nodded repeatedly. "We got MK quite good... let's keep this jape afloat, yes?" Hel sounded a bit pleading. "I'll see you up ahead." With that, Hel turned and left with a skip in her step.

"What the hell was that about?" Frisk picked up Flowey once Hel was completely out of view. As she said the words, she heard Sans utter a chuckle. Flowey and Frisk both quickly turned to look at the sleeping skeleton, but he seemed to still be conked out. They both breathed a sigh of relief. "If he is anything like the one from my time... he will be out for quite a while."

"Are you sure?" Flowey cast a suspicious glance at him. "That crazy trashbag," Flowey shook his head. "I thought Snowdin would be the safest place on this trip, but it looks like it might've ended up more dangerous than we bargained for... You know..." Flowey looked up at Frisk with an apologetic look. "You can just... hard reset and go back to the ruins."

"About that," Frisk eyed Sans one last time, then whispered to Flowey, "I can't... I'm actually without those... extended options."

"That's great," Flowey said in a chipper voice. "Fantastic!"

"Shh! This guy is not exactly like the other one," Frisk hid somewhat behind the convenient Ice-Chara. "Try not to make loud noises or tell any jokes."

"Oh, that will be really hard for me to do."

Frisk investigated the Ice-Chara. It had a remarkable resemblance to him, but upon closer inspection, his face was different. He had huge, bishounen eyes and a wide, toothless grin. "Wow, this just... it looks like him, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it does." Flowey replied simply. "Except that stupid face."

The temptation in her rose as her curiosity grew. Frisk simply had to inspect Sans and his sanstry station. She chuckled along with the sleeping Sans. Wait? Can he read my thoughts!? Nothing happened. It must have just been a coincidence. The human approached him carefully, and she could feel Flowey grow tense as they neared him. He didn't dare say a word, however, so close to the sleeping monster. Scattered around on the inside were various objects. Ketchup bottles, a few, small, thin clear cases with what looked like black tape wound up inside of them, and a set of playing cards- wait, no. A set of tarot cards? The one showing at the top was of two small figures being thrown from an exploding tower. That looked a bit metal.

Frisk looked down at the sleeping Sans. His face covered by that dark hood. She raised her hand and reached for it. Frisk really wanted to see his face again. Flowey lashed out a viney whip and restrained her grasp. Their eyes met, and Flowey simply shook his head at her. She sighed and realized Flowey was right. She walked away.

In the next area, Frisk saved at the usual save point. It was located there along with the strange, interdimensional box.

"Why did you try to touch that guy?" Flowey asked simply as Frisk opened the box. "You aren't stupid... You know he is totally dangerous, right?"

"I guess... I missed his face?" Frisk stated as evenly as she could. Her face turned a bit pink as she pulled out a pair of gloves from the box and inspected them very closely. They were worn, pink leather gloves. Same as usual. She wondered why it was still here... in the same box. With a shrug, she placed them back into the box, along with the human items she found from the ruins.

"You missed his face?" Flowey frowned as he noticed the pink creeping on Frisk's face. "You kind of broke down while talking to him earlier, you know, when you started to say whatever it was that made him start flipping out."

"The word has to do with his name, which I guess no one can say or even hear?" Frisk pondered aloud. "This kind of seems familiar to me... I feel like I heard about this happening before, in that other universe... but I also just can't seem to remember it either."

"Did you date him in that other universe?" Flowey asked abruptly. "Is he like your boyfriend or something?"

"W-What! N-No..." Frisk protested a bit too hard. "We never dated or anything..."

"Sure." Flowey sounded as hurt as he was curt. "I just think the way you are acting is kind of weird."

"Fine... I had a crush on him, okay?" Frisk admitted as she moved forward toward Snowdin town. "It was weird, just, growing up in the Underground, but then resetting everytime I reached the end."

"Resetting every time? I guess you didn't free everyone in one go, huh," Flowey whistled for a straight 5 seconds. "That's rough..."

"Hah hah, no thanks to you, buddy," Frisk clucked at her flower friend as they traveled.

"What do you mean! I wasn't there."

"Yeah, but the other you was... the yellow one," Frisk nodded matteroffactly as she explained. "You see, the other Flowey, he was kind of... incredibly awful. I used to reach King Asgore and hope that Flowey would give up and let me just... stay in the Underground. In the beginning, I wasn't really looking to save everyone actually..." Frisk admitted. This was the first time she could ever talk to someone about this. It felt strange.

"Really? What were you trying to do?" Flowey asked.

"Well... I just wanted to go home." Flowey stopped walking and looked up to the cavern ceiling. She never noticed how low it seemed until then. It felt like they were standing in a giant dome, but even so, the sky above ground didn't have a ceiling. "I was really scared. I thought Toriel was trying to eat me the first time through, Undyne and Mettaton genuinely tried to kill me a ton of times, and Asgore would never listen to me until it was too late. But..." Frisk looked down at Flowey. "I guess the two skeletons in Snowdin... they were always nice to me. One of them is your King Papyrus here, and the other is his brother-"

"The guy whose name can't be said?" Flowey guessed.

"Yeah, that same guy." Frisk nodded. "I know it sounds strange to you, but they are related in my universe. I guess they might not be in this one..."

"I don't think so... the king is such a cool guy," Flowey nodded back. "Sometimes he would come around and play with me when my parents were too busy doing their jobs... I guess being a king has a clear schedule."

"I don't know if that sounds right," Frisk gave him a small smile. "But the first time I ended up in the middle of nowhere, after fighting the big scary version of you, I got a phone call from Sans."

"Just call him Skeleton Guy or something," Flowey waved his leaf at her. "Hear you say whatever you are saying kind of makes my head hurt."

"Anyway, yes, I got a call from the Skeleton without a Name," Frisk rolled her eyes. She wondered how quickly she would get annoyed when it came to talking about Sans to other people in this universe. "He called me, and told me not to give up. Papyrus butted in and told me he was doing fine and not to worry about him."

"That does sound like something the king would say."

"Papyrus was always very kind..." Frisk looked off in the distance. "He was loud and obnoxious as heck... Even in that first run, I wasn't scared of him at all. He was always bragging about how cool he was... but I believed it. I still believe it, you know?"

"That definitely sounds like him!" Flowey chimed. "The king would always declare fun holidays randomly. Like, 'Snowy bologna day.'"

"I guess our Papyrus' are the same..." Frisk looked away from Flowey as she wiped at her eyes with a free hand. "T-That's good..."

"Did you have a crush on him too!?" Flowey exclaimed at her gesture.

"N-No!" Frisk blushed an even deeper shade of red.

"Sure..." Flowey sighed.

"Look, I had limited options, okay!" Frisk rolled her eyes at him, flustered. "Anyway, once I was on the surface, my small crush on he who cannot be mentioned by name got pretty heavy. He was funny, he was always nice to me, and I just kind of grew a thing for him."

"I guess it helps that he is tall, huh..." Flowey said grimly as he eyed his own body.

"Huh? Oh no," Frisk waved away the issue. "It had nothing to do with looks... he is short in my universe."

"What? He's short?" Flowey raised a brow. "How short?"

"Um... about this tall?" Frisk held a hand up to her collarbone. "He's probably only 4 foot tall..."

Flowey turned a bit purple. "I-I see... cool, cool."

"Anyway... I think I see MK and Hel ahead... Guess we should be prepared for whatever they have in store for us." Flowey nodded at Frisk's words as they entered the next area.


End file.
